Shades of Obsession
by Enchantress101
Summary: Duo Maxwell has a stalker! When things get a little out of control, Une brings in Zechs Merquise to be Duo's bodyguard. None of the G-Boys like this . . . except for Duo, that is, who seems quite willing to let Zechs guard his body anyday . . .
1. A Rose by Any Other Name

Uh. Flowers again.

I looked up from my work . . . well, okay, I looked up from the doodles of me zapping Wufei with a tazer gun, and rolled my eyes as a delivery boy weaved his way in and out of the cubicles, checking each name plate on the desks as he went along.

I gave a loud, dramatic sigh, and got to my feet. "Yo, you're lookin' for me," I declared, putting the poor boy out of his misery. He looked grateful and I was happy—there went my daily good deed. _Yes_.

Obnoxious hooting came from all corners of the office, and several people stood and peeked over the walls of their own box-from-hell, admiring the giant bouquet of flowers that were headed my way.

I went forward to help the kid, who was drowning under what looked like twenty-four fresh, deep red roses bunched together in a crystal vase. Hmm, what was this? Four times in the past week?

"You Duo Maxwell?" the delivery boy asked as he dropped the flowers rather roughly on my desk. He looked glad to be rid of the damn things. I would be too. The smell of roses made me nauseous.

"In the flesh. Lemme guess—no card, and you don't know who sent them," I supplied for him.

The kid looked curious, then grinned. "Get these often?"

I just smiled and handed the guy twenty credits. He snatched them up, nodded, and left.

"Who's the secret admirer, Maxwell?" some guy two cubicles to my right asked loudly, grinning slyly. His buddies who'd congregated around his desk laughed and elbowed him, as if he'd said something witty. Right.

I gave him a sweet look and placed my ass on my desk, then took one of the roes out of the vase. Well, at least my admirer was a decent guy. He'd gone through the trouble of asking the flower people to remove the thorns. How sweet.

I grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped the flower's stem, and then stuck the flower in my hair. So he wanted to be bad, huh? I gave the smartass one of my sexist looks, at which he paled and looked confused. I sauntered over to his desk, shoving his macho, manly pals out of the way and draped myself across his desk. "Well, you know, since he's a _secret_ admirer and all . . ." I murmured in a voice that I knew could turn on a dead man, "I really can't tell you who he is."

The dude looked flustered, and his friends were watching anxiously to see what his next move was. He gave me a glare. Wasn't much, I'd survived billions of the patented Heero Death Glare after all. I held his gaze, challenging him. _Show me how big your balls are, asshole, and I'll hand them to you in a hand basket._

One of his friends elbowed him roughly, urging him to reply, which nearly sent him falling on top of me. I batted my lashes and said, "If you wanted me, all you had to do was say so and . . ."

He turned beet red. "Get the fuck off my desk, you dumb fag!"

Okay, NO he didn't. He did _not_ just call me a dumb fag. Hey, I may enjoy the company of a handsome man, but I sure as hell wasn't _dumb_. But before I could rip off his balls and throw them in his face—fuck the basket—Heero appeared out of no where and yanked me away.

"That'll go on your report, Peters," he said coldly before dragging me back to my desk. He glared at the flowers, and I was surprised that they didn't wilt and die. "Will you move those things? They're making me sick."

Ah, yes. Heero wasn't that fond of roses either. I knew that. "But Heero, I _like_ them here. Aren't they pretty?"

"You hate roses. Move them." He stomped off to his own cubicle.

Bastard. I hated that he knew me so well. I hated that he knew me so intimately, that he knew what I liked on my pizza, what my favorite soda was, and what my favorite pair of boxers were, even though we weren't together.

But most of all, I hated that we weren't together.

ANYWAY! Whoo, can't think about that! Or that picture of 'Fei being turned into human bacon might become reality . . . _You're a GOOD friend, Duo, a GOOD friend . . ._

Maybe if I told myself that enough times, it would be true.

"I'm _so_ jealous."

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up. There was Quatre, staring wide eyed at the roses. Now _he_ loved the red plants from hell, and since he was my best friend and all . . . well. "Go on, take the damn things. I don't want them."

"Really?" Quatre asked. "I can just have them?"

"Sure! Use 'em to make Trowa jealous."

Quatre grinned diabolically, his eyes lighting up mischievously. Oh, boy. He's up to something. Quatre's not all sugary-puppies-kittens, you know. He's got this weird streak that comes out when he's drunk, horny or bored. I looked him over. He sure as hell wasn't drunk, but I couldn't tell if he was horny or bored . . . Trowa had been away on assignment for two days, so I guess it was the later.

"Ohh, I can pretend like I think they're from him, and he'll probably pretend like he did send them! And then I can catch him in a lie . . . he'll do whatever I say out of guilt."

Genius, pure genius. The oldest trick in the book, of course, but Trowa was so out of it (socially, I mean) that he'd probably fall for it. We giggled, and didn't notice when the subject of our prank walk up and take the flowers off of the desk.

"What's so funny?" he demanded, the one eye that was visible shinning with curiosity.

We jumped. Damn! Plan foiled. Well, by the way the week was going, I'd have another gift coming tomorrow. We'll get him, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday . . .

Quatre immediate turned back to his sweet self, obviously happy that his boy toy had returned. "Trowa! Oh, are those flowers for me?"

"Of course they are, who else would they be for?"

Quatre gushed, taking the horrid roses happily, batting his lashes. Ohhhhkay. Now I know that he's horny. "Let's go put these on my desk, and, ahhh . . . let's go somewhere private, I've got something to show you."

I stifled a laugh. I bet Quatre had something to show him alrght, something in his pants . . . I watched them walk away, then _run_ away after they'd dropped of the flowers. Aww, those two were so damned cute. A match made in heaven.

I sighed and dropped down into my seat, deciding that Wufei needed not be zapped, but blasted with a ray gun. Fuck, I was jealous of them . . . not that I would admit that to their faces, okay? Jeeze, that would be just awkward. They had the perfect relationship, and I could imagine them being together until their hair turned gray.

As for me? Hell, I hadn't had _anyone _in _that way_. Ever. Not even Heero, the guy who I thought would be the answer to my loneliness problem, but alas . . . it was not meant to be.

Hmm . . . being blasted was kind of weak . . . ohh, how about projected into space!

The smell of roses lingered, distracting me as I completed my drawing. It was nice having a secret admirer, although I wished that the guy had enough balls to step forward. If he was cute enough we could date, then I'd let him score, and then I'd send him on his way.

Hey! I know what you're thinking but what can I say? I'm eighteen, jeeze.

Uh oh. Here comes Une and Wufei.

I hid my drawing in my desk and pretended to be thinking. _Don't stop at my desk, don't stop at my desk, keep goin' . . ._

Aw, man. They stopped. I gave them a grin, and Wufei immediately looked suspicious.

"Duo, we need to talk," Une said, staring at the roses that sat on Q's desk with a frown. "Are those yours?"

"Nope, not anymore. Gave them to Q, or Trowa did."

"But they were delivered to you?"

"Yes."

Une sighed and rubbed her face. "Duo, I can't continue to allow you to receive these gifts during work hours. You're distracting the rest of the people who are trying to do their work."

Work? Who the fuck worked around here? I looked around incredulously. Yep, everyone was either surfing the net, playing computer games, talking on the phone or gossiping around the coffee machine. Work? Ha! No one worked . . . unless their name was Heero or Wufei, that is.

"Sorry, Une. Look, I'd tell the dude to stop, but I don't know who he is. Honest."

She searched my face, then nodded as if she'd found what she was looking for. "Fine. The next time something comes, don't make a scene and just put the damn thing away." She walked off, taking a moment to stare at the roses before moving on.

To my surprise, Wufei hadn't left with her. He still stood by my desk, looking at me. What did _he _want?

"Duo . . . I think we need to talk," he said quietly, glancing around.

"Oh? About what?"

"You know what this is about."

Okay, so I did. That didn't mean I had to let him off that easily.

"We don't need to talk. I'm dealing just fine."

"Are you?" he demanded harshly. He stooped down so that we were at eye level and scrutinized me. "Are you really dealing with this the way you should?"

What made him think he could talk to me that way? Jerk. I gave him a smile and reached into my desk, drawing out several of my sketches, all of him meeting a comical end. I spread them out so that he could see each one very clearly, my eyes never leaving his. "I have my own way of handling things, I assure you."

He looked at the drawings, his face turning red. He frowned at me and I just smiled. "They're just drawings, Fei. No need to explode."

Wufei sighed and looked away. "Okay, I deserve that. But none of it was intentional, I promise you. I did not set out to—"

"Maybe not, but it still happened."

He didn't say anything. He looked a little sad and pitiful, and I felt something tugging at my heart. Fine! Ohhh, fine! Damn my stupid fucking heart! Seriously, I shouldn't care how he's feeling, not after what he did to me.

"Look, Fei, its over. That was so last year!" I kidded, although I didn't feel it in my heart. "I believe you. He's made up his mind, and that's that. I have to live with it."

"Okay. If . . . I mean, is everything . . . can we still be friends?" Wufei asked, his pitiful look multiplying tenfold. Not intentionally, I'm sure, but still.

Bastard.

"It'll take some time, but sure."

That seemed to satisfy him. He gave me a parting nod before walking away.

I stared at the wall of my cubicle. What. The. Fuck. I'd made a promise to myself that I would never forgive the bastard for as long as I lived, but what the fuck had I just agreed to? To be his _friend_ again?

Ohh, no. Don't start, not here!

I could feel the tears gathering behind my eyes. All of the painful memories were returning, and I'd fought so hard to repress them . . .

I dashed to the bathroom and ducked into a stall, letting the tears flow. Damn, I'm such a fucking weakling. Like I'd said, it's been a year. I should be _over_ the shit by now. But apparently I wasn't, judging by my soaking wet cheeks and the snot running down my face.

" . . . Duo? Is that you?"

Jesus! A man couldn't snivel in _private_?

It was Quatre, and I realized that he and Trowa must've ducked into the bathroom for a quickie. The pervs, this was a public place! Hmm . . . kinda kinky but STILL!

"Y-yeah," I called back, my voice squeaking. Damn. "I . . . I just need some time alone!"

"Okay. Come find me where you're done. We'll talk." There was the sound of zippers being done up, and then they were gone.

Someone bless the blonde. He hadn't asked questions, just given me my space. Now I know why we're best friends.

For about five minutes I felt sorry for myself, then told the world to screw itself and stopped crying like a wuss. I emerged from the stall, washed my face and checked to make sure there was no snot on my chin before stalking out of the bathroom with an air of (fake) confidence.

A fake confidence that was shot to hell, though, when I saw Heero and Wufei standing just outside of a cubicle in an intimate embrace. Then they kissed, and my heart began to hurt all over again.

But it was nothing I couldn't handle.

After all, the hurt I was feeling now paled in comparison to the hurt I'd felt when, one year ago, I'd found my boyfriend, Heero Yuy in bed with Chang Wufei.


	2. How Many Licks?

For about five minutes I felt sorry for myself, then told the world to screw itself and I stopped crying like a wuss. I emerged from the stall, washed my face and checked to make sure there was no snot on my chin before stalking out of the bathroom with an air of (fake) confidence.

A fake confidence that was shot to hell, though, when I saw Heero and Wufei standing just outside of Fei's cubicle in an intimate embrace. Then they kissed, and my heart began to hurt all over again.

But it was nothing I couldn't handle.

After all, the hurt I was feeling now paled in comparison to the hurt I'd felt when, one year ago, I'd found my boyfriend, Heero Yuy in bed with Chang Wufei.

Oh, man, that was really dramatic! But that's what happened, I'm just tellin' it like it is.

So I just stood there, staring as they parted, their cheeks tinted pink (yep, even Heero's) and looking kind of embarrassed. Hmm. Reminds me of when I walked in on them having a go at it on the bed that I'd shared with Heero every night. Yep, pink faces, embarrassed looks . . .

Uhhh, I can't believe I'm thinking about this again.

My savior, my best friend, came swooping down to save me. Quatre quickly came by, took me by the waist and dragged me away. I was on the verge of breaking down again, so it was a good thing that he took some action when he did.

"Thanks, Q, I really didn't need to see that."

"Hey, what are best friends for?"

I sniffled and smiled. Yeah, what were they for? What had I done to deserve such a good buddy? "I hope I didn't interrupt anything in the bathroom."

"Naw, we were done anyway," Quatre reassured me. "But after all of that . . . activity, I'm hungry. And I know that you're _always_ hungry, so let's take an early lunch break."

Ummm, food. One of the few things that could lift my spirits at a time like this one. I hope they've got hot dogs today . . .

We walked into the cafeteria which was pretty empty since most of the workers too their breaks at noon. Ha! Noon, that's so overdone. We approached the steaming hot dishes at the serving center and . . .

Damn! Today was just one fucking bad day. No hot dogs. I grumbled under my breath and filled my plate with French fries and chicken tenders and watched as Q stood there, staring at the food. This was something he always did, stared at each and every dish as if he could just _see_ the number of calories and grams of fat the various foods had. I guess this was something someone had to do when they had a boyfriend to please. Me, I didn't really care.

Quatre got a little pasta and a little bit of salad before moving down to get a bottle of water. I got some 7-Up, duh, and winked at the lady at the cash register as I went by. Yep, WITHOUT paying hahahaha! I'm just too darn cute.

Quatre had to pay, though, and Heero . . . well, the cash register lady (and everyone in the office and their DOG for that matter) had gotten wind of Heero's . . . infidelity and had taken it upon herself to charge him for things he hadn't bought. He never complained. Oh, well.

Q and I took a table in the back of the cafeteria, in a quiet corner where we could talk without being overheard. We ate in silence for a while before Quatre decided that it was time to have our little one-on-one.

"So . . . Heero again."

"Yep. I hate it. Why do I always let them get to me?" I asked, stabbing a funny shaped chicken tender with my fork, pretending that it was Heero's . . . well, ahem.

Quatre sighed and gave me a sympathetic look. "Because you still love him, and deep down inside, you still want to be Wufei's friend."

Damn. Didn't I? These guys . . . we'd been to hell and back together during the war, blowing stuff up and hiding out in creepy old houses. . . That was something that I couldn't just _let go_ of , no matter what happened, no matter how much I might have wanted to say 'fuck them' and walk away.

I smiled weakly and ate the weird piece of chicken. "Hey, we're the Gundam Five. I mean, there's a bond there that's . . ."

"Yeah, I understand."

"But I've got to get over it," I growled. "I came to the realization a while ago that I'm not getting him back, and that I need to move on."

"That's right, you need to move on." Quatre got _that look_ in his eyes again. Oops, I guess I said the wrong thing. He leaned over the table and looked me straight in the eye. "You need to move on, and that's why you're going to go on the blind date I arranged for you."

I choked on the bubbly 7-Up. "WHAT?!" I felt totally betrayed. My best friend had done this to me?! A blind date? How desperate was that!

"Oh, come on, Duo! It'll be good for you to start dating again! And finding someone else is the best way to forget about Heero, and to show him that you don't need him anymore."

Hmm . . . yeah. Yeah, I _didn't_ need him anymore. And I needed to show him . . . maybe make him jealous? No. Just show him.

" . . . Is he hot?"

"Well . . ."

"Quatre!"

"He's not a _monster_, but he's not Heero-hot or anything." He sat back in his chair and thought. "Well, I guess he's pretty cute."

Cute? Better than 'monster' I suppose. I could deal. Besides one date didn't equal a life long commitment. If he was cute _enough_, then maybe . . . "Where'd you meet him?"

Quatre grinned. "He works in the office. I've known for a long time that he's had a crush on you. He wanted to chew Heero out for hurting you like that, but, well, you know."

Yep, I knew. Heero had been in such a fowl mood after I'd uncovered his cheating ways that if anyone besides me had tried to confront him about it, they wouldn't have lived to tell the tale. "Aww, that's cute, he wanted to stick up for me. I guess I could give it a try."

"That's good, because I already told him that you would do it."

Was this guy _really_ my best friend? Sometimes I wonder. "Fine. I'll let you get by on this one, but do it again and your bunny slippers are history."

He laughed and pretended to look scared. "Oh no, not my _bunny slippers_!"

I stuck out my tongue and continued to munch on my food. My mind wandered off.

A date. Jeeze, how long had it been? Even when I was with Heero, we didn't go on many dates, only if we were going out with the rest of the guys. And now here I was, going out with some guy I didn't even know. Baby steps, Duo, baby steps.

"Don't look, but here come Wufei and Heero," Quatre said tensely, looking somewhere over my shoulder.

Well, now I just HAD to look since he said not too. I turned in my seat and there they were, making their way through the line. Had they spotted us? I hope not, then they'd feel obligated to sit next to us. Oh, and in comes Trowa. Good. He's on MY side. When the shit hit the fan a year ago, he'd been pretty pissed at Heero and Wufei for what they did. That had surprised me a lot, and ever since then, we'd been making progress in our relationship. Yep, he actually SPOKE when I was around. Amazing.

Darn, here come Wufei and Heero. They're gonna try and sit here, and I'm going to say yes just because.

Quatre and I watched as they came over, a tray in each of their hands. "Can we join you?" Wufei asked, sending me a skittish glance. Heero's face was blank. Jerk, couldn't he ever be nervous?

I wanted to tell them off (really, I did) but instead I told them to pull up some seats. It's that damn heart again, giving me trouble. So they sat at the table, and a few seconds later Trowa came and sat down too. Three against two, how do you like that baby!

The table was quiet and tense. The only sound was the sound of people eating or drinking, which is a sound that I really hated (I mean, I don't want to hear you eat, eww) so I filled the void with the best sound in the world—my voice!

"Ahem. Sooo, thanks to Quatre, I've got a hot date on . . . um, when is it?" I asked, carefully watching Heero out of the corner of my eye.

His fork paused in mid air, and he looked up from his plate to stare at me. Yes! Haha, he cared. I knew he would.

"Oh! Next Friday. I hope that's fine."

"Perfect. Hey, Q, that means we can go out and buy some stuff that has absolutely _nothing_ to do with me going out on a date and say that it does to ease our conscience. Tonight?" I said grinning wildly. We always needed an excuse to go out shopping together—together, mind you, not alone. When we were together in a store . . . well, we'd usually end up buying a whole bunch of random stuff that we don't really need. But we might need it sometime in the future. You never know.

Quatre returned the grin. "Sure! We'll take my SUV just in case we get something big. I'll pick you up at six."

"Wait. A date?"

_That_ was Heero. I knew it. I _knew_ that it would only be a matter of time before he opened his mouth and said something. I turned to him. "Yep, a date. It's been a whole freaking year since we broke up. You see, I think that I should move on, try to see what else is out there, try to be happy, try to get _laid_—"

Trowa laughed quietly and Quatre grinned. I only got a shocked look from Wufei and an evil glare from Heero.

"—so I need to start looking for a suitable guy."

"Who is this guy?" Heero demanded, his head whipping around so that he could focus his glare on Q. Whoa. He was angry. I could tell, because his muscles were bunching up beneath his t-shirt. Apparently, Wufei noticed too, because he placed his hand on Heero's arm, and I could see Heero relax a bit. Damn, not fair. Every time I'd tried that to calm him down I'd gotten my braid yanked on.

"Someone from the office," Quatre said calmly, "and no, I'm not telling you his name so that you can scare the poor guy away."

"I'm _not_ going to scare him away," Heero insisted. Ha! That was pure bullshit.

Trowa snorted at that. "Of course you are, Heero."

"Why the hell would I do that?" Heero asked, clearly annoyed.

I gave him a look. "We all know you well enough to know what you'd do."

" . . . Fine. So I want to talk to the guy, so what?" He turned back to me, frowning. Man, even when he frowned he was totally hot. Curse him. "I don't think you should do this. You're just angry at me, you're trying to get back at me--"

Ohh no he did not just say that! Like my world _revolved _around him? It's on now!

"Heero, we aren't dating anymore, remember? You stopped having any kind of say over what I do when you decided to screw Wufei behind my back, which, by the way was a pretty rotten thing to do to a friend." I addressed the end to Wufei, raising an eyebrow at him, something nasty in my voice.

Silence.

"Don't talk to him like that," Heero said, his voice deadly calm, his breathing a little faster than it had been before.

"Sorry." Not. "I'm just telling the truth, and I'm sorry if you don't like it. You made the choice to do what you did, not me, and you have to live with it."

There.

Trowa cleared his throat. "Duo's right. You can't control him, Heero. If he wants to date, you should be encouraging him. Things will be better for all of us that way." Ahh, I knew he had my back.

And then Wufei surprised me. He turned to Heero, took him by the chin and stared squarely into his eyes. "Trowa and Duo are correct. You cannot continue to be possessive where Duo is concerned. He is his own man, let him do what he wants."

He was probably just saying that so that I would stop pinning over his man and get my own, but that was a nice thing to say. Again, _baby steps._

"Hn." Heero grunted. "Fine, do what you want, Duo."

"Thank you." Like I needed his permission. _Honestly . . ._

"You're very important to me, Duo," Heero confessed, not looking at me at all. What was this? "I know that I hurt you, but you were my first friend and . . ."

Jeeze, just rip out my heart, why don't you! "Its okay, Heero. I understand. Come on, Quat, I want to show you my new wallpaper on my computer."

We got up and left a little faster than was normal. I was ready to get out of there before I broke down again. I wouldn't do it, not in front of them.

"You know what the hardest part is, O?" I whined, resting my head against his shoulder as we walked back to our cubicles. With my brain feeling like scrambled mush, it felt really good. "The worst part is that they're totally in love. I mean, if they were just fucking each other just for the hell of it, then it would be _so _much easier to hate them."

Quatre supporting wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close. "No one's saying you have to _hate _them . . . but that doesn't mean that you should let them off easily, either. Give 'em hell for a while."

I really loved Q. Have I mentioned that? We'd be best friends _forever_. "Give 'em hell, huh? Does that mean I can use Heero's credit card number to order the latest Tekken game off of the internet?"

He burst out laughing and inside I began to feel much better. I loved to make Quatre laugh. The muscles in his face would relax, his eyes would light up and then he'd smile this dazzling smile . . .

Er . . . no. Oookay, no! I am _not _crushing on my best friend. I ain't that desperate!

Man, now I'm really looking forward to that date.

When six o'clock rolled around I was already waiting outside of my apartment building for Quatre's bright red SUV to roll up. I was so excited. Secretly, I loved to shop for any and everything, from groceries to electronics. Secretly, okay? Because I don't want everyone to think that I'm _flamboyantly _gay. Nope, that ain't me. I'm a _manly_ man's man.

Spending oodles of money would _surely_ keep my mind off of Heero (the dirty cheater) and Wufei (the boyfriend stealer).

Ummm, yeah. If you can't tell, I've been thinking about the two since our mini-confrontation in the cafeteria. Mini because we'd had some that were _way_ bigger than that. I'm talking colossal. Take my word for it, 'kay? You don't want to know.

Right on time Q pulled up and threw open the passenger side door. I hopped in and we sped off.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"First to the mall to get you something nice for your date. Then to Ikea . . . I need a new bed," he said, avoiding my gaze.

What? A new bed? That's not something someone goes out to buy in the middle of the day like . . . I dunno, a new pair of panty hose or some junk.

Unless . . .

I laughed so hard that my sides began to hurt. "Oh . . . oh . . . hahaha! Y-you two broke _another _bed?"

Quatre blushed and jerked the steering wheel roughly to the right. "Shut up! It was an accident, jeeze!"

"Man, you two should just do it on the floor!" I sat back and thought about that. Then again . . . "You know what? Never mind. If you did it on the floor, you might bring down the house."

We giggled at that together all the way to the mall. Quatre parked close to the entrance and once we'd composed ourselves, we headed into the mall arm in arm.

Our first stop was the women's lingerie store.

Okay, OKAY, I know what you're thinking! I can explain! It's just an ongoing prank that Q and I have—I _promise_! What do you think I am, some kind of freak?

We went inside the store, trying not to blush and laugh at all of the 'sexy' underwear that surrounded us. Not sexy to _us_, mind you, cuz we're a couple of gay guys, but more like funny. We were already drawing too much attention from the people working there as we fought back cheesy grins, and it would do us no good to get tossed out before we'd accomplished our mission.

"Oh, let's get _this_ one!" Quatre exclaimed, grabbing a pink and white thong that with the writing 'How Many Licks?' on the front of it.

We giggled. (I swear, we do that _waaay_ to much.) "It's perfect," I replied. We went up the register and paid for the skimpy underwear, asking for it to be gift wrapped in shiny red paper decorated with pink heard, topped off with a big white bow. As we exited the store, I took the card attached to the bow and wrote in big box letters FROM HEERO.

We'd send it to Relena's in the morning.

Yeah, I know. Absolute genius, isn't it?!

Anyway, with that done, we headed over to a trendy men's clothing store. I decided that a new outfit was in order for my DATE. I was going out on a DATE! A DATE!

Oh. Excuse me.

I was getting more and more excited about my DATE as time went on. After all, with each DATE there was a chance that one could get laid . . . hmmm.

Once in the store, Q and I went our separate ways. I wandered up and down the isles, thinking about the various outfits that I could try to put together. Let's see. There was conservative, semi-conservative, casual, kinda fancy . . . not to mention slightly slutty, moderately slutty and full-on slutty. Those last three choices . . . they were my favorite.

There were so many kids of outfits to choose from, but how could I pick out something for my DATE when I had no idea where we were going or what the guy was like? I guess Q saw my confused look because he came over and asked me what was wrong.

"I'm trying to decide what degree of slutty I should go for. Any opinions?"

"Hmm . . . since this is the first date, I'd say only slightly slutty. You don't want him to think that you're easy."

I don't? Too bad.

"Fine. Slightly slutty. But you know, I've got _plenty_ of slightly slutty at home."

Quatre bit his bottom lip. "True, true. Damn. Well, here's what we'll do. Let's get you a full-on slutty outfit for the future. You never know when you might need one."

Good point. So we went thought the racks and came out with a pair of form-fitting leather pants that were torn in all the right places, a deep purple undershirt and a see through mesh top, also purple. I argued with Q over the undershirt, saying that if I was going for full-on slutty, I needed to show a bit of skin. He disagreed, saying that _that_ much skin was _too _slutty, and that I'd be arrested for peddling my ass the second I stepped out onto the street.

We compromised—he would buy the stupid shirt for me and I would get the rest of it. I absolutely refused to buy the thing with _my_ hard earned cash if I didn't want it.

We took the clothes up to the counter where I commented on the hair of the woman who was ringing up our purchases. "Have you seen a blue like that, Q? It's so cool!"

The lady blushed and began playing with her blue locks. Hey, I wasn't kidding. She looked pretty good in it, and the blue was so electric that I think it gave off its own light.

"You think?" Blue Hair looked around and leaned over the counter. "There's a wicked cool belt on the rack back there that would go great with this outfit. Why don't you go back there and get it . . . and I'll sneak you the employee discount."

SCORE! See what a little Maxwell Charm can get ya?

Needless to say, we shuffled our asses back there and grabbed a purple and silver studded black leather belt and went back to the register. Blue Hair took it and put it into the bag with the rest of the stiff we'd bought.

"How much?" I asked, pulling out my wallet. I eyed the credit card that was in Heero's name but that I had authorization to use. It was a left over thing from our old relationship. I guess he'd forgotten about it.

I was really tempted to use it. Soooo tempted, but then I thought twice. Man, I should really just cut the thing up . . . someday.

"Don't worry about it. Some dude paid for it already."

Cool! Free clothes!

Wait . . . what?

I spun around, eyeing the crowd, trying to see if anyone stood out, or if I recognized anyone. Nope. Everyone looked pretty normal.

"What dude?" Quatre asked curiously.

"I dunno. Paid in cash, told me to give you the change and the receipt." She handed me a bunch of credits, the receipt and the bag.

Okay, normally I wouldn't complain about getting free junk (sometimes, you gotta take it where you can get it), but for some reason, this just gave me the willies. I stared down at the receipt, and in the light, I could see that there was something written on the back. I turned it over and a chill came over me, as if ice were flowing through my veins.

I knew the handwriting. I knew the _fucking_ handwriting, damnit! Quatre peered over my shoulder and read the note.

'_I hope you liked the roses.'_

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Sending me flowers was one thing, but following me, _watching _me was another!

I shoved the note into my pocket and said loudly, "Actually, I _hate_ roses!"

Then Q grabbed my arm and pulled me from the store. "Skip Ikea, I'm taking you home NOW," Quatre said tersely, eying everyone around us suspiciously.

Yes, _sir_! That was fine with me—deep inside, I was ready to go home too. I was Thoroughly. Creeped. Out. Capital C, capital O.

We practically ran from the mall and locked the car doors once we got inside. I slouched down in my seat and pressed my forehead against the window, paranoid that somehow, the guy was still watching me. The ride back was pretty much silent until we got stuck in traffic.

"Should we call the police?" Quatre asked softly, glancing in my direction.

How the _fuck_ should I know? What do you do when a mobile suit is comin' at you full speed? You shoot it down. What you do when you're given orders to give some guy a 'warning'? You rough him up a bit. And what do you do when you're told to destroy an enemy base? You blast it to hell.

_That _shit I knew. But what do you do when some creepy guy is obsessed with you, buying you stinky ass roses every day and paying for your slutty clothes when you weren't looking?

Dealing with a potential stalker was foreign territory.

But there was one thing that I _did _know. "I _know_ that we can't call Heero. He'll hunt the desperate bastard down and bust a cap in his ass."

Quatre looked confused. "What? That one's new. Bust a cap in his . . .?"

"Ass, yeah. He'll _shoot_ the dude, when I'm sure that he can be reasoned with." Hmm. He was a stalker, so maybe not. "If not, then we can toss his ass into a mental institution."

Forty-five minutes later, Q parked his SUV outside of my building and insisted on coming in to check the place out. That was fine with me. I'd feel a lot safer if he did.

When we reached my door, I paused before sticking my key into the lock. What the heck was that smell? It was all florally and junk, like Relena's funky perfume. I _knew _for a fact that Miss Pretty-In-Pink would not be caught dead anywhere _near_ my apartment (or me), so . . . I shook my head and unlocked the door, kicking it open and flicking on the light.

Holy. Shit. What. The. Fuck.

"Allah!" Quatre exclaimed as he dropped the bag of clothes he'd been carrying out of surprise, no doubt.

While I was away, my living room had turned into a flower shop! There were huge arrangements of lilies, tulips and about a dozen other kinds of flowers that I couldn't name packed into the room, but there was not one rose to be found.

Well. _That_ explained the smell.

I took a further step into my new shop, feeling a bit light headed. Then I caught sight of a card sitting upright on the coffee table, and fought back a bunch of weird looking flowers and snatched it up.

"What does it say?" Q asked from the door way. Smart man. Now that I was in the thick of things, surrounded by the flowers, I could barely breathe.

"Ahem. 'I hope you like these better. Forgive me for the roses.' It's HIM again!" I sneezed. Fucking flowers. _Fucking stalker!_

"So he was still in the store. . ." Q mused.

Hmm. He was right. We stood in silence until . . .

"Duo! You're back!"

Q and I jumped about a foot into the air. Oh. Just my fat, balding landlord. He gave us a toothy grin (or just a grin, cuz he didn't really have all of his teeth) and said, "You got this huge delivery while you were away so I let the flower boys in. They didn't touch none of your stuff, I sear."

Quatre gave the man a sweet smile. "So _you _let them in?"

"Yep."

Oh, good. That meant that the creep hadn't gotten inside my apartment.

We shooed the curious old man away and stood in the middle of the flowers. Quatre took time to admire some yellow tulips and I stared at a strange orange-colored cactus sitting in a pot in the middle of the floor.

Then it hit me. "Quatre . . . how the _fucking hell_ does he know where I live?! He knows where I _live_!"

Quatre's eyes widened. "Oh, hell. Get some clothes, you're staying with me and Tro tonight."

Trowa was sitting on the porch sipping something from a bunny mug (awww) when we pulled into the drive way of Quatre's mansion. We got out and quickly approached the house, eager to get out of the dark. I was getting jumpy now. Had he somehow followed us out here? Was he watching me now?

Trowa got to his feet and helped my with my suitcase, bless his heart. I'd packed more that half of all of my clothes, since I was planning on staying for a while, until the jerk took a hint and left me alone.

"Having a slumber party?" Trowa asked, obviously amused as we stepped into the house. Quatre quickly shut and locked the door behind us.

Inside the security of Q's fortress/mansion, I felt safe. Ummm, _safer_, at least. I began to relax and released a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

Well, Trowa certainly wasn't an idiot. He could tell that something was up. "What's wrong?" His voice was now full of worry and concern and he scrutinized me with his one eye. Aww, he cared about me. Q had bagged a really great guy.

We took him into the kitchen and sat him down, and then told him of the night's exciting and Totally Creepy events.

Trowa's visible eye narrowed. "So he's been following you too."

"Yep," I said, trying to sound cool, calm and collected, when I was really . . . well, not. But I could see that Quatre was fretting, and I hated to see him worry, so I pretended as if none of the stuff had bothered me. It's that best friend thing again.

"Do you still have the receipt and the card? Keep them, we might have to go to the police." Trowa gulped down the rest of his drink and caressed the bunny mug as he thought. I stared at his long fingers, stuck on the fact that Trowa had a bunny mug in the first place. Maybe it was Q's . . .

"In the morning we'll take some photos of Duo's flower shop." Trowa turned to me and his eye seemed to pierce my skull to see into my brain.

You know, sometimes I think his eye is magical, like that crazy guy from _Harry Potter._ When he give me one of _those looks_, I always fear that he's looking at the real me, and that he can see all of my fears, insecurities and my personal thoughts. I rubbed my forehead as if it could stop him from working his magic.

"Duo, you look exhausted. Why don't you go up to bed? I'll help you with your suitcase." Trowa helped me upstairs and into my usual room, leaving Q to run around the house locking all of the doors and windows and to set the alarm.

Uh, oh. Q wasn't here, so that meant that we were going to have a little talk. Damn!

"Duo, are you okay?" he asked, watching as I tossed open my suitcase and searched for something to sleep in. I didn't really feel like talking to him right now. Not after Stalker-Boy had made it clear that he was serious.

I gave him my trademark grin. "Yeah! Of course. I'm sure the guy will loose interest after a while. I'll be okay."

He just stared. "That's not what I meant."

" . . . er, okay . . ." What was he getting at? Wait, was this about Heero again?

"I was talking about Heero. That comment you made today at lunch . . ."

Bingo! I was right. Argh, why did everything always come back to him? "So the love of my life cheated on me with one of my best friends! That was a year ago, and look at it this way—at least he isn't with Relena. She'd _never_ let me live that one down." I plopped down on the bed and sighed. "Besides, he's pretty happy with 'Fei and 'Fei's pretty happy with him, and they are way more compatible that he and I ever were, so I guess things worked out for the best."

_Lies, lies, all lies!_

Trowa sat next to me and began to mess with my bangs. Hmm. That was new. "Worked out for the best? For them? Yeah, I guess it did. But what about you?"

"Me? I've got a hot . . . well, _cute_ date next week, baby! I'm back on the market, so if you know someone who's interested, preferably a _damn fine_ someone, let me know, kay?"

Trowa laughed. Since we'd been hanging out, he'd been doing that more often. Although one could argue that I've had a negative influence on Q, no one could say that about me and Tro. He was turning into a better human being. I can't take all of the credit thought. Q has worked miracles, too.

He ruffled my hair a bit and leaned down to kiss my forehead. Okay, now THAT was REALLY new! "Yep, you'll be alright. I'm sure there's some damn fine guy out there who's perfect for you."

"Finer than Heero?"

Another laugh. "_Ten times_ finer than Heero."

Wow. That was pretty good! "Oh yeah? Tell me about him."

"Well . . ." Trowa closed his eyes and a tiny smiled formed on his lips as he took my hand and began to stroke it, as if my hand was a map of my future. "I can see him right now. Blond hair, ice blue eyes . . ."

I giggled. "Sound's like _your_ boyfriend."

"No. This guy is tall, really tall. With a personality kind of like Heero's. You like guys like that, don't you?"

What, the strong silent type? Hell. Yes. They were _so_ sexy. "Fuck yeah. Keep going, keep going." I kicked off my shoes and snuggled beneath the covers. This was an excellent bedtime story. I could imagine myself having a very . . . _nice_ dream after this.

"He's very strong, and he'd do anything to protect you. He'd throw his body on top of yours to save you from a barrage of bullets . . ."

Ohhh, his body on _top_ of mine? Very nice.

"But he's also compassionate. He'll let you cry on his shoulder and he'll comfort you when you need it the most . . ."

Hmm. That wasn't like Heero at all, but what the hey. I'd go with it.

"He's got a temper where you're concerned. Someone steps out of line and says something off about you and he looses it."

Okay, that really wasn't Heero. He may have stuck up for Wufei in the cafeteria today, but when we'd been together, some guy could've come by and pinched my ass and he wouldn't have cared. You see, I know this for a fact, because it had actually happened. Jerk. Bastard.

"So when am I gonna meet this guy? He sounds like _just_ what I want."

Trowa frowned suddenly, and his hand gripped mine so hard that I winced. "Soon, I think. But not until after something happens."

"What something?"

He released my hand and sat back. There was a very confused look on his face. "I don't know." He rubbed his temples and grumbled something under his breath.

"Hey, that was pretty good. You made all that up on the spot!"

"I didn't make it up."

" . . . oh. Er, did they teach you palm reading at the circus or something?"

Trowa got to his feet. "No. I've read some books though."

"So you're saying what you saw was real."

"Yes."

"And I thought Q was the one with the magic powers."

"Good night, Duo." He quickly left the room.

Ooookay. My life was so fucking weird. First a stalker and now one of my friends has become a magician over night. I got up, changed my clothes and flicked off the light, crawling into bed.

I thought about the guy that Trowa had described. I didn't know anyone like that. Nope, no one in the office came to mind. Wait, I was actually believing what Trowa had said? I guess so, it sounded so good that I wanted it to be true.

I closed my eyes and tried my best to fall asleep. It took a while, because I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.

_Fucking stalker._


	3. Striptease Please!

I went to work the next day with Trowa and Q. Trowa hadn't said a word about his little foray into fortune telling, but I could tell that it had freaked him out a little bit, because he was reluctant to talk or even look at me. But I was cool with it—after all, he'd predicted me with a hunk of a man! Who wouldn't love that?

We sat down at our desks and I immediately took out a clean sheet of paper and began to do a sketch. This time, Wufei was not meeting a horrible end. He wasn't even in the darn thing. (See, I AM making progress!) This time I was sketching what I thought my dream guy would look like. I tried different kinds of noses, different mouth shapes and hair length until I came up with something I was satisfied with. Then I drew myself with my dream guy, making out . . .

Man, I was sooo horny! Damn Trowa for making that prediction! Now I wouldn't be able to think about anything else for the rest of the day.

I wanted to cry. I was so freaking lonely and desperate for love. All of my friends were heavily involved with someone, and I was being left behind.

Well, at least my stalker thought that I was worth something. But he was crazy, so I guess that really doesn't count.

Okay, I'm taking a break. Screw work.

I got up from my desk and headed outside, down to the ground floor and into the atrium. It was a really nice place where people would go to take a break from . . . um, not working. There was a tree in the center of it, colorful patches of folowers (I'm really starting to hate those things) and a nice water fountain of a naked baby boy spitting out water. I'd spent several hours down here tying to figure THAT one out, but I was still at a loss.

I sat on the edge of the fountain and stared up at the sky. Where was my life going? I was stuck in a job I hated, at least until I turned twenty-one when I'd be allowed to do something more worth-while for the Preventers, I was totally unloved except by a crazy ass stalker, and I was still depressed about Heero leaving me, no matter how hard I tried to deny it.

"Hey, fag boy, turned on by the statue?"

Great. Just what I needed when I was feeling depressed. It was the guy from yesterday, Peters or whatever his name was. He was alone this time and looking pretty ticked off, probably because I'd embarrassed him in front of his friends.

He stalked over and towered above me. "You're lucky that Yuy came by when he did, or else I would've—"

"Would've what?" I sneered back. He dared to threaten me when I was feeling like crap?

He grinned nastily. "Say, how _are_ things with Yuy? He dumped you, right? Decided that he liked Chang better?"

Okay, now _that _was playing dirty, throwing my sour relationship with Heero in my face. I jumped to my feet, ready to take the bastard on. But then he pushed me. He pushed me (!) and I fell back into the fountain with a splash. He laughed and laughed, but quickly shut up when I sloshed water in his direction so that he was almost as wet as I was.

After cursing me to hell and threatening reveng , he left. I hauled my ass out of the freezing water and swore, tugging at my wet clothes. This was just NOT my day.

I went to the men's locker room where, luckily, I kept a spare set of clothes, ignoring the strange looks that I was getting as I walked down the hallway. The locker room was thankfully empty, which meant that I could shout bad words as loud as I could in an attempt to alleviate my frustration without bothering a soul. I stomped to the back of the room and swiped my Preventers ID card when I reached my locker. It popped open and angrily I yanked my extra clothes out and then watched curiously as a plain white envelope fell to the ground.

What was this?

I looked around cautiously, but the room was silent. Empty. I looked back down at the envelope. Should I open it? Should I get Trowa?

Jeeze, it was just and ENVELOPE, nothing to get worried over. So I opened it.

Oh my god. Oh my god!

Inside the envelope were pictures of me . . . pictures of me changing my clothes last night at Quatre's house. So he _had_ been watching me! I knew it!

But how had he gotten inside the Preventers headquarters? Inside my locker? Was he still in the room? In the building? Was he lurking just outside the locker room for me, waiting for me to come out so that he could whisk me off and have his wicked way with me?

Shit! Okay, I needed to CALM DOWN, go somewhere where there were a lot of people and find Trowa and Q.

I decided that changing would have to wait. I left my clothes there and clutched the pictures to my chest, dashing outside into the hallway. There were plenty of people milling around, not working as usual. Good.. I avoided looking anyone in the eye and stared at the floor instead—any of the unrecognizable faces could've belonged to the stalker.

Suddenly I bumped into a very firm body. Ouch! The pictures fell to the ground and the person I'd ran into bent down to pick them up, which would've been nice under other circumstances, _if _the pictures weren't of me getting naked. I scrambled to get the ones that I could, but the Good Samaritan had already grabbed some.

"What the fuck are these?"

HEERO?! I was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY having a bad day! Of all the people to run into, of all the people to see the mildly pornographic pictures of me! Heero!

He stood there, staring down at the three photos he had in his hand, his face balnk but his eyes full of confusion. Oh boy. How could I explain this? Well, I knew I couldn't, so I didn't even try. Instead I yanked the pictures from his hands and did the only thing that I _could_ do—I took off running down the hallway.

"Hey! Duo!"

He was right behind me, I could tell. Trying to run from Super-Human-Heero-Yuy was pretty useless, I guess, and I made it to Trowa's cubicle with Heero on my heels. Trowa was sitting on his desk, feeding Quatre pudding when I found them. They looked pretty mad that we'd interrupted their flirting, but seemed to let their anger go when they saw the panic on my face.

"Duo, what's wrong?" Quatre asked, wiping some pudding from the corner of his mouth. "You're all wet."

"Why the fuck do you have pictures of you undressing, Duo?! Who took those?!" Heero demanded, drawing the attention of the people around us. I could've hit him for having such a big mouth. I didn't need rumors of this floating around the office.

Wufei wandered over, obviously drawn by his lover's loud shouting. "What's going on?"

Jeeze! The two people that I didn't want to know about this . . .

"It's HIM again," I said to Tro and Q. "I got something else."

Trowa's confused look turned deadly. "Let's talk about this some place private."

All five of us immediately headed to the men's restroom. We went inside, and Trowa and Heero rudely shoved two guys who were in the middle of relieving themselves out into the hallway. Quatre locked the door behind them.

I turned to Wufei and Heero. "Do you two mind? This is private."

Heero scowled. "I want to know what's going on."

"We should just tell them," Quatre said to me. "We might need their help. We haven't dealt with anything like this before, and any extra input is valuable."

No! My best friend just turned on me! His bunny slippers are _toast_. "Fine." I told Heero and Wufei about last night (Heero looked ready to murder someone), and then passed around the pictures. For a while, no one said a word. The looks on their faces, though, would've been really funny if I hadn't been so unnerved. I was in no mood to laugh—I wanted to hurl.

"You're going to the police NOW," Heero suddenly barked as he shoved the pictures he was holding at Trowa, who scrambled to grab them before they hit the ground. He stalked over to me and grabbed my arm—what the fuck?—and stuck his face in mine. "Why haven't you gone to the damn police?"

If we'd still been together, I would've been flattered by the amount of concern that he was showing me. But we weren't, and the fact that he looked ready to chop someone's head off on my behalf ticked me off more than anything. I couldn't understand it. Why was he so possessive towards me now, when he wasn't anything of the sort when we were together?

But I had more important things to worry about than Heero's temper. I was fucking _pissed_ that someone had decided that it was okay to intrude on my privacy. I felt incredibly violated, creeped out, and worst of all, vulnerable, and right then, I sure as hell didn't feel like hearing a lecture from my cheating ex-boyfriend. I returned his dark look and shook him off.

"The flowers were pretty harmless, Heero, unless they were meant to _suffocate me_ or something." I collected each photo and placed them carefully back into the envelope.

"I'd feel better if we went to the police now. Screw work," Trowa said. Quatre nodded.

"We're coming with you," Wufei quickly added, and I assumed 'we' meant Heero and Wufei.

I really wanted to tell them to take a hike, but fine, whatever, I was not in the mood to argue. The five of us left the bathroom together, which I guess looked kind of weird, now that I think about it. I _knew_ we looked scary—the looks on Tro and Heero's faces were not very . . . erm, friendly to say the least. Wouldn't want to meet _them _in a dark alley, that's for sure.

We made it all the way to the parking deck without incident. Heero _insisted_ that I ride with him to the police station, but I said that I needed to go back to Quatre's to get some other things that Stalker Boy had left for me, so I should ride with Trowa and Q. He paid me no mind and just grabbed my arm and shoved me into the back seat of his giant SUV. Wufei got into the passenger seat and Heero got behind the wheel, which kind of bothered me because he was so mad that he probably couldn't even see straight.

"We'll meet you at your place," he grunted to Trowa, locked the doors and sped off.

I quickly secured my seatbelt and slumped down in my seat. This was _so_ not cool. I was in a car with my controlling maniac former boyfriend and his current lover . . . just perfect. I pouted, and glanced up from the floor just in time to see Heero staring at me through the rearview mirror.

"Keep your eyes on the road, will ya?" I said. "Stalker Boy won't get the chance to drive me to an early grave if we crash and burn."

"I wish you'd take this a little more seriously, damn it!" yelled Heero angrily. His foot slammed on the gas and we began to weave in and out of cars.

"I _am_ fucking taking this seriously, okay?! I am seriously worried about this, but your crazy ass attitude isn't helping!" I shouted back at him, gripping the seat as we whipped around a corner. "And slow the fuck down!" He totally ignored me and kept speeding.

"Heero." That was all Wufei had to say, and the maniac driver slowed down to a more reasonable speed. Fuck! How the heck did he do that? I guess they were really made for each other . . .

"Got him whipped, don't cha, Wufei?" I asked with a small laugh.

Wufei just nodded. Huh. I wondered how that had happened.

We arrived at The Fortress way before Q and Tro, and had to wait outside for fifteen minutes for them to arrive, since they had the key. Once they joined us and unlocked the door, I went inside and upstairs to my room. I found the note and the cards and went back downstairs.

Quatre was on the phone and Trowa was handing Wufei a cup of something. Heero was sitting on the couch, breathing heavily like a raging bull hyped up on steroids. Uh, _not_ a pretty sight, that's for sure.

"What's going on? Aren't we going to the cops?" I asked, joining everyone in the living room.

Quatre shook his head. "I'm on the phone with them now. We thought that it would be a better idea if they came to us. We want to keep you away from as many crowds as possible."

Trowa was staring at Heero, who was now being forced to drink from the cup by Wufei, as if he'd never seen him before. "Besides, we don't want Heero to snap and massacre some innocent officers if they aren't as . . . cooperative as we'd like them to be. Take him upstairs, will you?"

Wufei nodded and lead Heero to the second floor. "You drugged the drink?" I asked.

"With a mild sedative. Hopefully he'll calm down." Trowa turned to look at me. "What's wrong with him? Is there something going on between the two of you?"

I sat down on the couch and tossed the stalker's notes onto the coffee table. Funny how things kept coming back to my past relationship with Heero. "What are you asking me? Are you implying that we just might be trying to get back together?"

"He's being very irrational," Trowa said, sitting down next to me. I leaned against him, resting my head on his shoulder. He began stroking my hair as he'd done the night before. "I just don't understand why he's getting so upset over every little thing that has to do with you. He loves Wufei, right?."

"Yeah. I'll ask him sometime, when he's not ready to kill someone." I closed my eyes. Suddenly I was freaking tired. Now I had to worry about Heero on top of Stalker Boy, and my mind was still buzzing from the scares of today and the night before. Like I said, dealing with a fanatic, obsessed freak was new ground for all of us. We were the Gundam Boys. We were supposed to be able to handle any and every situation thrown at us, but this . . . we were all at a loss, and I guess my friends (even Wufei and Heero) were scared too.

I shucked off my shoes and curled up on the couch. "Would you call me a girly wuss if I told you that I was scared out of my mind?"

Trowa laughed quietly and tickled my face with the end of my braid. "Only if _you _don't call me a girly wuss. I'm scared too."

Aww. What had I done to deserve such great people as friends?

Trowa suddenly stiffened and removed his hands from my hair, and the bonding feeling that we'd been sharing was now gone. Confused, I sat up and opened my eyes. Oh. Wufei had come back from putting Heero to rest and was standing at the foot of the stairs, looking at us very suspiciously.

Wufei came closer. "I hope you two know what you're doing to Quatre."

I had absolutely _no _idea what he was talking about. I'm not dumb or anything, okay? But you can't blame me for not being _all there._ My brain felt totally fried, and I still had that feeling of wanting to puke up my breakfast.

But evidently Trowa caught on, because he got this totally frightening look on his face and got to his feet. He stood there imposingly, his arms crossed over his chest as he towered over Wufei.

"You're one to talk, Chang. Did _you _know what _you_ were doing?" Trowa said. His voice was calm, but I could detect a hint of malice there.

Wufei drew himself up to his full height, ready to do battle. But before he could say a word, Quatre came into the room. At that point, the tension was so thick that Deathscythe Hell wouldn't have been able to hack through it. Q hesitated, took some time to stare at each of us, and then went over to Trowa and forcibly moved him away from Wufei.

"Um, I don't know what's going on, but yeah. Here's the deal. The police are on their way, and they've already got someone out to take a look at the Flower Shop," Quatre informed us, eyeing Trowa, who was still looking very upset about whatever Wufei had said. I'd have to ask him about it later. The two were engaged in a heated glaring contest . . . I had my money on Tro. "Where's Heero?"

YES! I won! Wufei looked away at the mention of Heero and turned his focus to Q. "I put him upstairs to calm down."

"What the hell is his problem anyway?" I demanded. "He's not my boyfriend, my brother, and he sure as hell ain't my dad, so why is he so pissed off?"

Wufei sighed and sat on the couch across from me. "He's just scared. He doesn't know how to handle his fear, so he goes off." He looked me straight in the eye. "He may not love you in the way that you love him, but he still cares for you."

Right. How many times was I going to have to hear _that _one? And who said I was still in love with him anyway? "That's nice," I said nonchalantly. "Tell him to back the fuck off."

Trowa stepped in front of me, blocking my view of 'Fei. His face was still marred by anger, but he seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Do you need something? A drink, something to eat?"

"We've got 7-Up," Quatre added. "A six pack."

"Bring the entire thing here. I need some caffeine." Trowa went into the kitchen and came out with exactly what I'd asked for. Ohh, they were nice and cold. Tro handed me one that was already open and I began to guzzle it down.

Everyone else just sat quietly, watching me either outright (Trowa and Q) or out of the corner of their eyes when they _thought _I wasn't looking (Wufei). I was on my third can when the door bell rang. We all jumped, and Quatre ran to get the door.

Two detectives dressed in suits joined us in the living room, and both were actually kind of hot, which definitely grabbed my attention. One was really tall like Trowa, and his hair was midnight black and cut short. His eyes were just as dark, which looked really cool against his olive skin. His partner was shorter by about a head, and his hair was flaming red, accompanied by vibrant green eyes. Wow. My day just got a little better.

"I'm Detective Benito," the dark haired one said, "and this is my partner Detective Walker. We got a call about a possible stalking?"

I nodded, trying to imagine how I looked at the moment. Eww, probably really bad. I still had on the muddy and wrinkly clothes that I was wearing when I fell into the fountain, and I'm sure that my hair, my strongest selling point, was not looking very nice at the moment. But I always had a backup, which were my eyes. No matter what, they were always the same unusual, gorgeous purplish color. "I'm Duo Maxwell, the guy who's been stalked."

Walker raised an eyebrow. "Duo Maxwell, former Gundam pilot?"

"Yes," Trowa supplied. "We're all Gundam pilots."

The two detectives looked impressed.

"This stalker must have some really big balls if he's stalking a Gundam pilot," mused Detective Benito as he smiled handsomely. Ohhh, he uses _my _kind of language! Very nice.

"Sit down," Quatre urged. They did, and they sat next to me! Benito sat the closest, and his partner was on the other end of the couch. _I hope I don't stink_ . . .

"So what's been going on?" Benito asked, taking out a note pad and a pen. I filled him in, with the guys adding their opinions and confirming the things that had happened. I showed them the notes and reluctantly gave them the pictures.

"I hope they're not going to circulate around the precinct," I said with a laugh to hide my embarrassment as the detectives flipped through the pictures, "or show up on the internet or in a tabloid or something. I mean, I know I'm fine and all, but . . ."

Benito smiled at me (what a hunk!) and said, "I assure you, these photos will remain locked up tight. No one will see these unless it's absolutely necessary." He stared down at one picture that had me stripping off my shirt. "You're right though. You are fine." He winked at me.

Wow. Are you single? Can I have your number?

His partner cleared his throat, rolling his eyes. "Can you show us the room you were in when these pictures were taken?"

I jumped to my feet. "Sure, follow me."

I led the detectives, along with Wufei, Q and Tro up to my room. On the far wall were glass doors that led to a balcony. The glass doors had no blinds or curtains, which Q had deemed unnecessary since the mansion-fortress was pretty far out from the rest of civilization. About ten yards away was a big tree, which. I guess it was safe to say that the stalker had chosen to hide there and take the pictures.

The two detectives looked around, eyed the tree, and them went into a corner and whispered amongst themselves, probably trying to decided if my case was worth perusing. I sat on the bed and watched anxiously as they talked. Then Walker flipped open his phone, showed something to Benito and then nodded. They turned back to us.

"Well," Walker said, "the street cops we sent to check out your apartment just sent us some photos on my cell phone. This guy is pretty serious."

I nodded. "So what are you going to do?"

"First we're going to go out and take a look at the tree," Benito said, giving me a reassuring smile. God, he was so hot. "Maybe he left behind some clues. We'll look into this, but to be honest, there isn't much that we can really do unless he threatens you with bodily harm or attempts to kidnap you. It's the law."

"We can get him for a relatively minor charge for taking these pictures," Detective Walker added, "but other than that . . . The stalker laws, what few of them there are, aren't really very effective."

Trowa nodded. "I figured that might be the case. Should we be doing anything in particular? What kind of person are we dealing with?"

Benito thought for a minute. "It's hard to say what kind of stalker you're encountering." He turned to me. "Have you recently broken up with anyone? Rejected an advance from someone?"

"I haven't had anyone try to ask me out at all. I broke up with someone a year ago, but he's not . . . I mean, he wouldn't . . . he's not a suspect."

Walker raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"He's with me now," Wufei said. "And he's a friend. He wouldn't do anything like this."

Hmm, Heero? I'd never thought about that possibility. He _was _a little crazy, and seemed to be hung up on me for some reason. But could I believe that he was secretly stalking me? He and Wufei were great together. It didn't make any sense for him to do something like this to me.

"I think it's pretty safe to rule him out," Quatre said. "He's one of us."

"Oh, a pilot?" Benito asked. I nodded. "Well, alright. We may need to speak to him though. Well, if the stalker isn't someone you've rejected, then he's probably what we like to call a delusional stalker. You've probably never met him before, but despite that, he feels like you have some sort of connection that more than likely doesn't really exist."

"Your break up could be just that," Walker added. "Sometimes these delusional stalkers like to attach themselves to someone who seems to need companionship or affection. They feel that they can provide it for you. He may have been recently rejected and feels lonely, and sees that similarity in you."

But my breakup had been a long time ago. Could he have been watching me for an entire year, since the breakup? I shuddered at the thought.

"You'll want to be careful. Lots of times these guys have some kind of mental illness," continued Walker.

"He may try to contact you pretty soon, maybe in person or over the phone. He could even use the internet. You want to be very careful about how you speak to him. If he _does _have a mental illness, angering him could cause him to do harm to you or someone close to you," Detective Benito advised. "You all should just continue with your everyday activities. Stalkers often thrive on attention, and if he notices that he's getting to you, he'll try to increase his contact with you in order to get more."

I warily rubbed my face. "Thanks for the advice."

"No problem. Take my card," Benito said, handing one to me. "Make sure that you keep us updated, and contact us if you get anymore gifts."

Alright, a phone number!

We said our goodbyes and once they were gone, we sat in the living room to discuss what we'd heard. Despite the detectives insisting that I need to act like everything was okay, I was unwilling to move back to my place. I was still creeped out, and in no hurry to return. Despite the fact that Stalker Boy had gotten some racy pictures of me while I was on Quatre's estate, it was a hell of a lot safer than my place.

As for my blind date, _that _turned into a double date with Trowa and Quatre. Since I refused to let Stalker Boy run my life, I was _not _going to give up my date. Besides, I needed to relax and unwind.

After laying out our plans, Trowa took me upstairs and urged me to go to sleep. He shoved a pair of sweat pants at me and I pouted. "You just want me to sleep so you guys can talk about me behind my back."

Tro gave a small smile. "Of course. Can't hide anything from you." Then he turned serious. "You look exhausted. It's been a long two days, and we're all more than a little concerned for you."

I gave him a quick hug. "Alright, alright. Fine. I'll take a nap. Just don't say bad things about me, okay?"

"You got it." He left me alone, closing the door behind him.

I sighed and rubbed my face. I _was _pretty tired, my eyelids were drooping, and a nap sounded pretty good at the moment. I unbuttoned my jeans and began to pull down the zipper, and then froze. Damn. I had to start remembering to undress in the bathroom.

When I woke up, I was a little unsure of where I was. The room was very dark, and it wasn't until I looked over to the glass doors did I realize that it was nighttime. I looked over to the alarm clock that sat on the dresser. Nine minutes past eight.

What the hell? How had I slept away the entire day?

Then it hit me. Trowa must've slipped something into my 7-Up, the dirty little sneak. I'd get him later for that one. "Jerk. Traitor," I mumbled, getting out of bed. My stomach rumbled loudly as I stretched. Oh, man, I was hungry. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so I decided to go down to the kitchen to get something to eat.

"—can't believe you did that!" Heero was practically shouting. He was standing toe to toe with Trowa in front of the refrigerator. Both men looked very annoyed with the other, Heero more than Trowa, and I momentarily thought about intervening, but then decided against it. I wanted to see what Heero had to say about his behavior.

"I had no other choice. You were being irrational."

"I'm sorry that I showed some _concern_ for a _friend_," Heero growled. "I was just worried about him."

Trowa stepped away and sat at the kitchen table. "You have to let him go, Heero. You've made your choice and it wasn't him." Trowa gave Heero a level gaze. "Or do you want him back?"

Heero seemed to deflate. His shoulders drooped uncharacteristically and he joined Trowa at the table, slummping down in his chair.

I held my breath. What would I do if he said that he _did_ want me back? Would I take him back? Could I forgive him for betraying me? Could I—

"No. I don't want him back."

Well. Guess I wouldn't have to answer those questions after all.

"I want to . . ." Heero's face twisted with confusion. He seemed to struggle with what to say, and after a few minutes, he sighed. "I cannot put it in words, the feeling that I have for him."

"You have to find a better way to deal with those feelings. Maybe you should talk to him," suggested Trowa.

"Hn."

"Or maybe you should help Quatre find someone for Duo."

" . . . What would that solve?" he demanded angrily.

Trowa sighed. "Maybe you'd stop worrying about him so much . . . if he had someone to take care of him."

It was then that I began to wonder if Trowa _really_ possessed some kind of powers, because it was if he had uttered some kind of magic word—a look of shock and acknowledgment dawned on Heero's face. It was strange, because I'd never seen him look _surprised _before. He slowly turned to face Trowa. "You are right. You are absolutely right. That's it."

Tro nodded and leaned back in his chair. "It's worse than Relena, then?"

"Yes." Heero rubbed his face rather roughly. "Much worse than the feeling I had with Relena. I want to protect him so much that it is nearly driving me insane."

"He's a grown man, Heero, and a former Gundam pilot just like the rest of us. He can take care of himself."

Heero grunted. "I'll have to disagree with that one. He's always getting himself into all kinds of trouble. He needs constant supervision."

Hey! Okay, that was cruel. I wasn't a _child_, you know. I could take care of myself—I had my own place, a job, I paid my bills on time . . . So what if I went crazy now and then and did off the wall stuff? Secretly, the guys _love_ it when I do weird things. Keeps them amused and on their toes. Since I was fed up with them talking about me, I waltzed into the kitchen and grinned at them.

"Hiya, guys! Funny how I slept for the _entire day_." I gave Trowa a look. He just smiled at me in return.

"It was for your own good."

"Nope, it wasn't. That's okay, though. You'll just have to pay the price—I won't be able to sleep a wink tonight. You know what that means . . ."

Heero winced. He quickly got up and said, "Good night. I'm going home."

Good. He was gone. I leaned against the sink and stared at Trowa. "Relena? He feels for me like he feels for _Relena_? Eww, under NO circumstances do I want to be grouped with _her_. That's just degrading."

"Maybe that's a sign. A sign that you and Relena should try to get along, because you really have more in common than you think." His face was blank, but I could tell by the look in his eye that on the inside he was laughing.

"Erk, no. Not in a million years." I shuddered. "Okay, let's talk about something else. Where's Q?"

"He's checking the alarm system. I think he's calling about getting the place fenced off."

"Gee, for me? That's nice."

"Not just for you. We've been having some problems with the Paparazzi. They seem to find our relationship _so fascinating_ . . ."

I laughed. "I bet."

I was still giggling when the phone rang. Trowa answered it, then handed the phone over to me. I gave him a puzzled look and he muttered, "Une."

Oh great. Just great. What the freak had I done now?

"Hi, Une. How ya doing?"

"I just called to ask you the same thing. I heard that you're having some . . . issues."

Issues? I guess you could call it that. "I'll be in for work tomorrow anyway."

"Don't worry about it. It's not like you actually _do_ anything." She laughed.

Oops! I'd been found out. "Sorry. It's just that I hate paperwork . . ."

"I know," she said. "I'd love to have all five of you guys doing something more challenging for us, but the Preventer guidelines say that you can't until you're twenty one."

"You wrote the damn guidelines, didn't you? Can't you just change them?"

"Not without going through a lot of people first. Sorry. Look, I plan on making you useful in about three years, and I can't have you disappearing on me, okay? Watch your back. Although, I am considering taking a few . . . measures to ensure your safety."

I momentarily wondered what she'd thought up, but what ever it was would be rather useless. "Don't worry. Heero's made it his new life mission to fight back anyone who seems _remotely_ interested in me in any way. Stalker Boy doesn't stand a chance."

"Good." We said our goodbyes and hung up. Quatre came into the kitchen just then and smiled at me.

"You're awake!"

"Yeah, no thanks to your boyfriend." I fixed Trowa with an evil glare. He just looked innocent.

Quatre grabbed my arm and took me upstairs. "I've got a little project for us to do. We're putting some curtains up in your room."

"Yay! Interior decorating, my favorite pastime, just like any other gay guy!" I said this sarcastically, of course. Q just rolled his eyes and dragged me into my room. Well, at least he hadn't picked out something frilly. The curtains were black and simply cut. Good.

It took us ten minutes to put them up, and once we were done, I felt ten times better. Now I didn't have to try to remember to go to the bathroom to change. Q decided that we should spend some time together to help me forget some of my troubles, and went to get some popcorn and a couple of movies. I plopped down on the floor and turned on the tv. Just great—there was Relena Peacecraft in all her pinkness, smiling daintily and basking in applause as she stepped up to a podium. I gripped the remote, and was just about to change the channel when I stopped. Oh, God. Who was _that_?

I scooted closer to the tv and stared. Standing just behind Relena was a tall, blond hunk of a man with really nice hair, _almost_ as nice as mine. He was wearing sharp, perfectly suit black suit, and his face was impassive as he stood there imposingly just daring someone to even _breathe_ at Relena the wrong way. Wait, hadn't I seen his picture before? Oh yeah! That was Zechs or Milliardo or whatever he liked to call himself, Relena's brother. This man was _fine_. My Dream Man, in the flesh.

At this point, I think I was drooling because Q came into the room and began to laugh. I snapped back and had the decency to look embarrassed. Quatre came over to see what I'd been goggling at.

"Ohhh, Zechs Merquise. He's hot," Q said with a knowing wink.

I felt my face getting even hotter. "Yeah, well, I don't think I'd touch _that_ with a ten foot pole. He's related to Miss Pretty-in-Pink." Huh. _That_ was a lie.

"Lair!" Of course. Q knew me too well. "Someone would have to _pry you off of him_ with a ten foot pole if you two ever met." He put a disc into the DVD player, and my Dream Man disappeared, replace by a blue screen.

"Hey!" I cried. "Jeeze, I was _watching_ that!"

Q snorted and dropped a bowl of hot, buttery popcorn and a can of 7-Up in my lap. "You mean you were watching Merquise. It's not like he was going to do a striptease, Duo. He looks like her body guard, so he'll just stand there looking scary for a while."

I glared as the movie started up. "How do _you _know he wasn't going to strip? If it comes up on the news tomorrow morning, I'll kick your ass."

Quatre laughed as he flopped down on my bed. "If it's on the news tomorrow, I'll _let _you kick my ass. I would've liked to see that myself."

After giggling like girls for a few minutes, we settled down and focused on the movie, a gay love story. Man, I'd rather be watching a good ole shoot-em-up movie with plenty of explosions and car crashes and gore, but Q was a big sap at heart. I could deal with it—I'm sure there will be plenty of make out scenes.

We were about a half an hour into it when Trowa joined us. He snuggled up with Q on the bed. "What are we watching?"

"Well, we _could _be watching Zechs Peacecraft or Milliardo Merquise or whatever his name is do a strip tease, but . . ." I glared at Quatre.

" . . . What?" Trowa muttered. Q and I just laughed. "Never mind, I _don't_ want to know."

After a few minutes, I could hear some giggling coming from Q, and husky whispering from Trowa. Okay, eww. They're my friends and all, but I don't really want to hear or see that. "Hey! Keep it clean up there, that's _my _bed!"

Well, hell. It didn't sound as if they were going to let up anytime soon, so I took my soda and popcorn and left. I went downstairs and flipped on the tv. Yes! For once I was glad that Miss Pinkness was still talking, because that meant that her totally hot brother was still standing behind her. I continued to stare, and eventually it occurred to me that Trowa had seen me with a hot blond . . . could it be?

I snorted. Yeah, right. For us to end up together, we'd have to meet. That would be impossible because as a bodyguard he followed the Queen of the World around, and the Queen wasn't going to come anywhere _near_ me, a poor L2 street rat, and I wasn't going to go anywhere _near_ her, with her suffocating, nauseating perfume, so . . .

I changed the channel. No use lamenting over what you can't have.

If only my stalker knew that.


	4. Blind Dates, Blind Fates

It occurred to me while I was showering the next morning how pathetic my life was at the moment. Last night I'd found myself curled up on the couch alone, watching two balding fat guys drywall a room while my two closest friends were upstairs breaking another bed, not to mention the fact that my ex was probably doing the same with a guy I'd once considered a really close pal. I don't think that I've ever felt more alone in my life than at that moment, and it really bothered me.

I guess, after the war, I'd gotten use to having _someone_, you know, a boyfriend. Heero and I had hooked up almost immediately, to my delight, and shacked up together as we struggled to adapt to the fact that we were no longer soldiers. We'd only been together for a little more than twelve months, but in that time I'd grown accustomed to coming home with him, sharing a bed with him and having someone to spend my Friday and Saturday nights with. And now all of that was gone. I left work each day and came to an empty apartment, I slept on one side of the bed with no one on the other, and the only thing keeping me company on Friday and Saturday nights were my anime shows.

Oh, man. I was really feeling sorry for myself, and that is something that I really don't like to do. I had to get a life, and fast, before I ended up drowning in my self pity.

The car ride to the Preventers building was silent, which I guess shocked Trowa and Quatre. When we reached the office, Quatre pulled me into the men's restroom and gave me a once over.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Quatre demanded.

I didn't want to talk to him about this, because I felt that this was just something he wouldn't understand. He had Trowa. "Nothing. I'm fine." I put on a fake smile.

Quatre wasn't buying it, I could tell. But he knew me better than I probably knew myself, so . . . "You're very quiet, which either means that you're about to blow something up or you're feeling crappy. Since this is peacetime and we work in cubicles, I'm assuming that you're feeling crappy."

I sighed but didn't say anything.

"Oh . . . is this about last night? I'm sorry I ditched you, I didn't mean to," Quatre said.

"Last night? No, I don't have a problem with that. I just hope . . . you know, it wasn't on _my _bed."

Q laughed. "No, we took it somewhere else, I promise."

"Good."

"So you're not going to tell me what's wrong?"

"_Nothing_ is wrong with me!"

"You're lying." Quatre stared me down, but I just raised my chin and returned his look. "I just want to help. Is there something I can do?"

"Remember that thing I said about you and there being no air in space?" I threw my arm around his shoulders. "You can't fix everything, Q."

"No, but I can certainly try."

Jeeze, he was so stubborn sometimes! "You've done enough. You've set me up on a date, which will hopefully lead to a long, healthy, _honest _relationship."

Quatre caught on. "Oh, that again? You've _got_ to stop thinking about Heero and Wufei! Come on, let's finish that movie that we were watching last night. That'll help you get your mind off of it."

We left the restroom and we to Q's cubicle, where he popped the DVD into his computer and started up the movie. I pulled up a chair and he took out a bag of popcorn from his desk, and we sat down to watch the movie from the beginning. I know what you're thinking, but haven't I already told you enough times that _no one _works around this place? Do you believe me now?

"Hey, look, two fags watching fags!"

Okay, seriously. What the _hell _was wrong with this guy? I didn't even have to turn around to know that it was the jerk who'd shoved me into the fountain the other day. "Go the fuck away, will ya?" I snapped, keeping my eyes on the computer screen.

He yanked the back of my chair and spun it around so that I was now facing him. He looked really pissed, and his fist was clenching a mug so hard that his knuckles were white. "You think you can get away with what you did to me yesterday?"

What I'd done to _him_? Who did this guy think he was? He'd pushed me first. "Look, ass wipe—"

But before I could finish my witty comment, he dumped the contents of his mug—which turned out to be _scalding_ hot coffee—onto my right arm. Fucking bastard! I cried out in pain and kicked out at him as I jerked back. I'm pretty sure that my heel caught him in the nuts, but I couldn't tell if he was screaming in pain from my well-placed kick . . . or the punch in the face he got from Heero only seconds later. Either way, he went down, only to have Trowa pick him up by the back of his shirt and toss him across the room. Swearing and promising _more _revenge, he stumbled away.

"Duo, are you alright?!" Quatre exclaimed, yanking on my injured arm to get a better look.

"I won't be if you keep pulling on me like that! Ow!" I turned to Tro and Heero. "Man, you guys pop up at just the right times!"

Trowa frowned at the burned skin on my arm. "Lets get you down to the infirmary, okay? I think you need to get that looked at."

On the way down to the infirmary, I had to calm Heero down. He was just itching to hunt Peters down and beat him up, but I persuaded him to leave it alone by saying that Wufei would not be very happy with him if he did. Once I mentioned his boyfriend's name, he predictably settled down. I'd learned that the secret to controlling Heero Yuy was none other than Chang Wufei. Hmm. Maybe I could have a little fun with it later. Oh yes. Definitely.

When we entered to infirmary, Heero rudely shoved past the people waiting in line for appointments and said to the nurse, "We have an emergency here. We need a doctor _now_."

I rolled my eyes and gave the people who'd been waiting in line an apologetic smile. "Calm down, Heero, my arm isn't going to fall off. It's okay, I can wait."

He whirled on me, and the nurse looked about ready to faint from fear. Oh boy. Here he goes again. "No, Duo, you _cannot_ wait! We need a doctor now!"

"Ahem, someone said they needed a doctor?" A tall man wearing a white coat stepped forward, took one look at me and nodded. "Yes, come this way, we'll get you looked at immediately."

Heero, Q, Tro and I went back to an examining room, where the good doc helped me up onto the chair. As he rummaged around in a drawer for some gloves, I looked him over. He was an okay looking guy, a little too thin with dark brown hair that fell to his chin and strange gray eyes that unnerved me a bit. His nose was a little big and a little crooked, and the thick framed glasses that he wore really did nothing for his face.

"So, doc, what's your name? Never seen you around here before," I said conversationally.

The doctor snapped on his gloves and smiled. "My name is Dr. David Rankin."

"Nice to meet cha. I'm Duo Maxwell. So, what can you do for my ailing arm?"

He took my arm in his hands and stared down at the burn. I was amazed at how soft his touch was—I could barely feel it. It was if he wasn't even toughing me at all. He made strange 'hmm'-ing noises deep in his throat as his fingers skimmed over the burn. I shivered, strangely mesmerized by his touch and his voice. Then he let go of my arm and turned to the others and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, you'll have to leave the room while I'm examining the patient."

Heero glared. "But—"

"_Heero_," I growled. "Just go, its okay."

They left a bit hesitantly. When they were gone, the doctor gave me a smile. "Interesting friend you have there."

"Heero? Oh, yeah, he's . . . erm, _interesting_ all right."

Dr. Rankin went back to his drawer and began digging around in it again. "That's a nasty burn you've got there. I thought you might feel uncomfortable telling me how you received it with them around."

What a thoughtful guy. "That's no problem. Some creep who's been hassling me dumped some hot coffee on my arm, that's all."

"Umm hmm. What's his name? I'll need to write it in my report." The doctor came back with some ointment and a moist pad. As he cleaned my wound and put the cream on it, I told him about Peters and vented to him about the things he'd done.

The doctor gently wrapped up my burn and after checking to make sure it was secure he patted me gently on the back. "All done. Make sure you keep the dressings dry, and try to change it once in a while."

"Okay, thanks." He helped me down off the chair and led me back out to the waiting room.

"I hope I never have to see you down here again, Mr. Maxwell," the doctor said with a parting nod. "Take care."

I waved goodbye and left the infirmary, my arm still tingling from the good doctor's touch.

**xOxOx**

The rest of the work day was rather uneventful, Q and I eventually finished the flick and we even had time to watch two more, and then I went home with Tro and Q again. We ordered a couple of pizzas and sat down together to play Monopoly, which was kind of stupid because Quatre always, always, always won. But it was still nice to spend time with the guys, and it sure as hell kept my mind off of _other_ things.

Buy the end of the day it occurred to me that I had not thought about my stalker at all, and that I hadn't gotten another gift from him either. I wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was willing to accept that. The rest of the week was also relatively quiet. No more gifts, no word from the Detectives, and no Peters, who hadn't shown up for work after the coffee incident.

So Friday rolled around, and it was finally time for my date. Q and I left the office early and set to work beautifying me . . . not that I really _needed_ any beautification, you know. I am _always_ beautiful.

Anyway, Q called in some hunky masseuse guys and we had a grand time letting them rub us down. After that, we headed off to the sauna for a half an hour and then showered (separately, you pervs). Then we sat down together and did my hair, making sure that it was the shiniest that it could be. Next we squeezed into our clothes, Quatre in a pair of tight jeans and a tight shirt, and me into a pair of tighter jeans and a tighter shirt, and headed down the steps together where Trowa was waiting to give us a once over.

He gave a cat call and kissed Q, and then turned his attention to me. Tro grinned. "You look good, Duo. You pulled out all the stops, I see."

"This _is_ my first date since Heero, and I want it to go well."

"You mean you want to get laid," Trowa said.

"Of course."

He laughed and shook his head before returning his focused to Quatre, whom he showered with comments and little kisses.

Yeah, okay, sometimes I make a pretty big deal out of getting laid, but I'm just . . . _curious_. I haven't told anyone this, not even Q, but one of the reasons that I have a problem with Heero is that he refused to sleep with me, no matter how much I begged or pleaded or dressed scantily to get his attention. He refused to, yet he'd sneak around and bang Wufei behind my back. And that would make me . . . yep, you guessed it, a virgin. Sad, isn't it? Yes, it is.

When the door rang, my heart began to race. My date was here. This was my first date in a year, a date with someone I didn't know, hadn't ever seen . . .

Oh. Okay, so it _wasn't _my date.

When Q opened the door, Detective Benito stepped in, much to my surprise. He stared at me for a while, no doubt thinking about how _sexy_ I was, and then seemed to come back to reality as he blushed. "I'm sorry, you all look as if you're about to go somewhere. Is this a bad time?"

He was just as hot as he'd been when I first met him, and you can't blame me for wanting to spend some time with him. I smiled and said, "No, if you've got news about my stalker, I'd like to hear it." As far as I was concerned, he could stay for as long as he liked. Forever sounded good enough.

"Actually, I'm here on another case," he said, "but I have a sneaking suspicion that it could have something to do with . . . you. I'm looking into the disappearance of a George Peters. I've heard that you've had some altercations with him."

"Disappearance?" Trowa asked, his eyes narrowing. "And you think that Duo had something to do with it?" He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the detective threateningly.

"Er, I'm not saying that _he _did anything," Benito clarified quickly. He looked a little nervous, but I could understand that. Sometimes Trowa could be just as scary as Heero. "Look, I'm just following procedure." He returned his attention to me. "Some of your coworkers said that you and Peters have a problem with each other."

I briefly explained to him what Peters had done to me. "It was all petty, really. I mean, I sure as hell don't _like_ the guy or anything, but I wouldn't hurt him."

Benito took some notes and nodded. "To be honest, I'm not really considering you as a suspect at this moment. Our investigation has shown that you guys were probably the last ones to see him before he turned up missing. Besides, there could be a link between . . ."

Oh, man. I really wanted to believe that this was just a coincidence, but I couldn't shake the feeling that this was somehow connected to me, and it appeared that the detective was feeling to same way. Just how far was my stalker willing to go for me?

"—may need to contact Heero Yuy. Do you know where I can find him?" Benito was saying.

Oh, he'd been talking? Oops. I snapped back from my thoughts. "Umm, what? Sorry I kind of . . . spaced out for a moment."

The detective's eyes twinkled a bit as he grinned. Urk, have I mentioned that this guy is _sexy_? Oh, yes. "That's all right. I was just saying that several individuals witnessed Mr. Yuy threatening Mr. Peters with bodily harm, and that I'll probably need to contact him."

Jeeze, hadn't I tried to get Heero to shut his big mouth? I _knew_ that his hot temper would get him into trouble someday, but I'd always thought that it would be Wufei coming down on him, not the _cops_. Insert the saying about rocks and hard places here, ya know? I mean, although I wasn't too _fond_ of Heero at the moment, I certainly didn't want to see him in the slammer. But I couldn't say no to Detective Benito, who had the law on his side. After all, I had no desire to end up behind bars myself for hindering an investigation. Er . . . do you _know_ that the other prisoners would _do _to someone as _beautiful_ and as _alluring_ as me?

_Exactly._

Besides . . . who's to say that Heero really _didn't_ do something to the sorry ass bastard?

So I gave the cutie cop Heero's address. My ex would just have to deal with the police himself. Detective Benito thanked us and left just as my date was coming up to the door. I tried to hide the fact that I was watching the cop's butt as he walked, and snickered as Benito and my date, a short and compact guy with flaming red hair, stared each other down as they passed by. Men!

Once the detective was gone, my date flashed me a gigantic grin (probably trying to impress me with his perfectly straight pearly whites) and pulled . . . erk, a _rose_ from behind his back. Ew. If I never saw a rose again in my life, I could die a happy man.

I could hear Quatre giggling as I went up to greet him. I returned the red-head's smile, mine less show-offy but definitely sexier, and plucked the rose from his hand. Q, being the best friend on the entire planet came by and took it from me and took it to the kitchen, where hopefully it met the garbage disposal.

"Hi, I'm Duo. You are . . .?" I held my hand out for him to shake.

The guy's face turned as red as his hair as he stammered, "A-Adam. I'm A-Adam." Instead of shaking my hand, he grabbed it and pulled me into a bear hug. Umm, okay. That was different.

When we parted, I _swear_ that his face was even redder than it had been before. Cute, I'd made him blush. I grinned and hooked my arm in Adam's, then turned to Q and Tro, who were bother struggling to not break down in a fit of laughter. "Let's _go_ already . . . before my date spontaneously combusts."

They _did_ laugh at that, and we left together in Q's SUV to start our night on the town.

Man. You know that saying about hindsight being twenty-twenty? Boy is it _true_. Looking back . . . looking back on that night and on everything that happened after it, I can honestly say that I wish I'd never gone out on that date. How I _wish_ I hadn't gone out on that _damn_ date.

**xOxOx**

All in all, I suppose it really wasn't that bad of a night. First we went to this ritzy, upscale restaurant. You know, one of those places that gives you six forks and twice as many courses. I'm still puzzled over the six forks thing. I mean, one fork for each course, maybe . . . nah, doesn't make sense if you've got twelve of 'em. . . hmm. Just another one of life's little mysteries, I guess. Anyway, Adam and I spent the majority of the meal teasing Trowa, Quatre, and the other patrons about how _proper_ they ate.

No elbows on the table? C'mon, that's just ridiculous!

Well, it turned out that Adam was a pretty cool guy who didn't seem to be used to the lavish lifestyle of Tro and Q (just like me), and we were able to feel totally out of place together. Talk about a bonding experience.

Next we went to see a movie, which had just the right mix of sap and explosions to satisfy all of us. About halfway though the film, I noticed that Adam kept raising his arm to scratch the back of his neck, where it lingered suspiciously for a while before quickly falling back to his side. I was just about to ask him if he'd been bitten by a bug or something when I finally figured out what he'd been trying to do.

I smiled and whispered to myself, "How cute." Then I reached over, put his arm around my shoulders for him and leaned against him. Peering up into his face I could tell, even in the dark, that he was blushing. I just laughed and he didn't say the word. It was pretty obvious that Adam wasn't a slick mac daddy or anything.

When the night was finally over we returned to Q's place, where he and Trowa quickly said their goodnights to Adam and darted into the house, leaving me and my date alone on the front porch.

Adam was already blushing furiously and he focused his eyes on everything but me.

I cleared my throat. It looked like I would have to start the goodbye. "I had a good time tonight."

His eyes snapped up from the floor and locked with mine. "You did? R-really?"

"Yeah. You're a pretty cool guy," I said honestly.

"R-really?"

"Yep."

"Oh, um, that's good. Really good! Say . . ." Adam shuffled his feet a bit. "Does this mean that you'll go on another date with me?"

I couldn't help but laugh. The man looked absolutely _petrified_ that I'd say no and send him packing. "Of course I will."

Adam's face relaxed as he released the breath that he'd been holding. "Good. Great!" Then, to my totally shock and surprise, he reached forward, grabbed me by the waist and kissed me full on the lips. Wow! I hadn't thought he'd had it in him!

The kiss didn't last very long, however, just a couple of seconds, and it wasn't very intimate, no tongue action, and then he let me go. He looked embarrassed as he walked backwards off of the porch. "Umm, er, so . . . I'll call you later?"

I just nodded and waved, watching as he got into his car and drove off. Once I was alone, I did a little celebratory dance, composed myself, and went into the house, where, of course, Tro and Q were waiting anxiously for me to give them all of the details.

Do I kiss and tell? Hell yes, you better believe it! I see no shame in that.

Quatre grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the living room where Trowa was helping himself to some tea. I gave him a goofy grin to signify that things had gone well.

"Did you kiss? Did he kiss you?" Quatre demanded as he nearly shook me to death.

Trowa was sitting on the couch doing his silent laugh thing. "Yeah Duo, did you kiss?" He made obnoxious smooching noises.

I gave him the finger. "Real grown up, Barton. And _yes_, for your information, he did kiss me. But he was so damn nervous that he didn't even give me a chance to kiss him back!"

Quatre giggled. "Maybe _next time_, then?" he asked hopefully.

I saw what he was getting at. "Oh yes, _next time_. For sure." I winked at them and wiggled my hips for effect. "I'm going up to bed, you guys. I'm beat." I hurried up the stairs and into my room before they could ask me any more questions. I flopped down on the bed and snuggled up with a pillow as I thought about the date.

It had been pretty successful, I guess. Adam was a good guy, sweet, funny and really down to earth. I liked that a lot about him. But he lacked . . . I dunno, something _special_. He was just an average Joe kind of guy, and there'd been no spark between us. He was definitely friend material, but probably nothing more.

That was okay, though. This date had served as a test, and it proved to me that getting back out there wasn't as scary as I'd thought it would be. There would be good dates and bad dates, but putting yourself through all of that would be worth it in the end, when you found the person you were meant to spend the rest of your life with.

Erk, that sounded totally sappy and mushy, but I guess I've got that side to me too.

I got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. I quickly showered, dressed for the night and went to sleep, feeling strangely and uncharacteristically optimistic about what the Fates held for my future.

**xOxOx**

Knock knock knock knock knock

"Hzaat?" I mumbled as I removed my face from my pillow the next morning. What the fuck? I grabbed my bedside clock and stared at it. 5:12 am. Who the hell thought that it was okay to disturb me at such an ungodly hour? Who the hell was _awake _at such an ungodly hour?

"Duo! Open up!"

It was Quatre. Okay, now his _kitten_ slippers are toast!

I got out of the bed and yanked open the door. "What do you want?" I growled, glaring at him.

. . . and then I noticed that Detective Benito was standing behind him, and I thought about how I must look, with my hair sticking up and coming out of its braid, and how _funky _my breath must have been . . . ARGH! I refused to look at the hunky cop—maybe if I ignored him, he'd go away, and he wouldn't have to see me like that.

"The detective needs to speak to you," Quatre said pleasantly. "And I'll disregard the fact that you just growled at _me_, your best friend, okay?"

I turned to Benito. Still there. "Come back at normal business hours, kay? I'm not all that hospitable before eight am."

His face was stern, and for once, he didn't smile at me. Suddenly I had a horrible sinking feeling that something was wrong. "I'm sorry, but this can't wait. Meet us in the living room as soon as possible." He left abruptly.

Oh. Okay. I guess I was seeing his business side. Not good.

Quatre just shrugged and went after him. I quickly brushed my teeth and tamed my hair before I joined Q, Trowa, Detective Walker and Detective Benito in the living room. I perched myself on the arm of the couch that Tro and Q were sitting on. "What's this all about?"

Walker flipped open his notebook. "Did you have a date with an Adam Hurwitz last night?"

"Erm . . . yeah. Yes, I did. Why?"

Benito's face was grim as he gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. Adam Hurwitz is dead."

Quatre gasped and Trowa got tense, but I just stared dumbly and slack jawed at the detective. "What? No, that's _impossible_. I mean, I just saw him last night. I . . ."

"His body has been positively identified by a family member," Walker said softly.

Oh, no. No, no, no! This was so crazy. Although I'd dealt with death before, although I'd taken so many lives and seen so many lost, this hit me like a ton of bricks, I guess because it was peacetime, and we were all so young. People I knew _didn't_ _die_ anymore. The war was over. "What . . . A c-car crash? Is that how he died?"

Benito shook his head. "No. He was murdered."

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note:** Nowthings start to get interesting. If you want to be alerted of when I update this fic, leave your e-mail address and I'll add you to the mailing list.


	5. Duo dot Com

**Important Author's Note:**If you didn't receive an e-mail saying that this fic has been updated, it is because either a) you didn't join my Yahoo! Group, or b) when you reviewed and left your e-mail, there was nothing after the symbol. All of the e-mail addresses left in a review appeared like this: "janedoe" and nothing after that. Sorry, don't know what happened! **So, if you'd like to be notified of a chapter update**, please join my Yahoo group, the link is on my bio and on my website. I'm too lazy to enter 50 e-mail addresses into my address book, so do me a favor and join, okay?

**xOxOx**

Knock knock knock knock knock

"Hzaat?" I mumbled as I removed my face from my pillow the next morning. What the fuck? I grabbed my bedside clock and stared at it. 5:12 am. Who the hell thought that it was okay to disturb me at such an ungodly hour? Who the hell was _awake _at such an ungodly hour?

"Duo! Open up!"

It was Quatre. Okay, now his _kitten_ slippers are toast!

I got out of the bed and yanked open the door. "What do you want?" I growled, glaring at him.

. . . and then I noticed that Detective Benito was standing behind him, and I thought about how I must look, with my hair sticking up and coming out of its braid, and how _funky _my breath must have been . . . ARGH! I refused to look at the hunky cop—maybe if I ignored him, he'd go away, and he wouldn't have to see me like that.

"The detective needs to speak to you," Quatre said pleasantly. "And I'll disregard the fact that you just growled at _me_, your best friend, okay?"

I turned to Benito. Still there. "Come back at normal business hours, kay? I'm not all that hospitable before eight am."

His face was stern, and for once, he didn't smile at me. Suddenly I had a horrible sinking feeling that something was wrong. "I'm sorry, but this can't wait. Meet us in the living room as soon as possible." He left abruptly.

Oh. Okay. I guess I was seeing his business side. Not good.

Quatre just shrugged and went after him. I quickly brushed my teeth and tamed my hair before I joined Q, Trowa, Detective Walker and Detective Benito in the living room. I perched myself on the arm of the couch that Tro and Q were sitting on. "What's this all about?"

Walker flipped open his notebook. "Did you have a date with an Adam Hurwitz last night?"

"Erm . . . yeah. Yes, I did. Why?"

Benito's face was grim as he gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. Adam Hurwitz is dead."

Quatre gasped and Trowa got tense, but I just stared dumbly and slack jawed at the detective. "What? No, that's _impossible_. I mean, I just saw him last night. I . . ."

"His body has been positively identified by a family member," Walker said softly.

Oh, no. No, no, no! This was so crazy. Although I'd dealt with death before, although I'd taken so many lives and seen so many lost, this hit me like a ton of bricks, I guess because it was peacetime, and we were all so young. People I knew _didn't_ _die_ anymore. The war was over. "What . . . A c-car crash? Is that how he died?"

Benito shook his head. "No. He was murdered."

Murdered? _Murdered_?

My blood ran cold as I sat there in shock. That wasn't possible. Adam was a nice, friendly guy. Why would someone . . . _kill_ him? What had he done to deserve that?

Quatre swore. "And you think . . . you think that Duo's stalker had something to do with this?"

No. No, it had to be a coincidence, that's all. If it wasn't, and if Adam had been killed because we went out on a date, then it was my fault that he was dead. All my fault. "No . . . please tell me that there's no connection. Please," I begged, squeezing my eyes shut, although deep in my heart, I knew . . .

"It looks as if the stalker did this," Benito said, confirming my fears.

At that moment I wanted to break down and cry, scream and kick, anything. But I couldn't. I was frozen, the words "He was murdered" repeating over an over inside my head. I pinched the bridge of my nose and urged myself to concentrate. I could break down as much as I wanted later, but right now I had to get all of the information I could from the detectives. I didn't want someone else to get hurt because of me. "It _looks_ as if? What makes you think that?"

The cops shared a glance before Benito cleared his throat. He looked uncomfortable as he said, "It is mainly because . . . of the brutal nature of his murder."

"Brutal?" whispered Quatre, his eyes wide and fearful. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Trowa wrap his arms around his boyfriend supporting. I shuddered and wrapped mine around myself.

"Ah . . ." Benito began. "Look, I'll be honest with you. The crime scene wasn't one of the . . . best I've been to. Er, the fact that Mr. Hurwitz's hands had been severed from his body, and the fact that he'd been, um . . . castrated suggests that the perpetrator may be your stalker."

"It's likely that he bled to death," Walker added.

Castrated? Hands chopped off? Bled to death? My stomach rolled. Oh, god, what a horrible way to go. Unable to do anything while your life slipped away . . . At least he'd been happy before he went. I'd probably given him one of the best nights of his life.

"Do you have any leads? Any suspects?" demanded Trowa, his voice calm and level. Good ol' Tro. You could always count on him to be the rock to hold on to when things got rough.

"Well," Walker said, "We've discovered that Mr. Huwitz was part of Duo's online fan club and—"

"Wait, my _what_?" I scratched the back of my head. Had the guy just said what I thought he did? Cuz if he did . . . wow, that's freaky.

"Fan club," Benito said, giving each of us a look. "Don't you guys know about them? You all have one, but yours, Duo, is by far the biggest. It's got message boards, chat rooms, personal backgrounds, a Gundam analysis and more. They even charge a pretty hefty membership fee."

Woah. Someone was makin' money off of _my_ name and it wasn't _me_? Erk, okay, I'd have to deal with that later. Back to Adam. "So . . . so you were saying that he was a member of my fan club."

"Yes. We're short on physical evidence that could lead us to the killer, but we couldn't find any sign of a forced entry. So we suspect that Mr. Hurwitz knew his attacker, maybe someone he met online" Detective Benito said. "The fan club is just a place to start, since we really don't have any other leads. We've been checking in on it for a few hours and we've already found some _real_ fanatics."

I just nodded dumbly. Good, at least they had a place to start, and a pretty big suspect list. I wanted this case _closed_ so that I could live in peace and so that Adam could _rest in peace_. Such a horrible way to die. He deserved to have his killer brought to justice.

I was still rapped up in my thoughts as the two officers gave us some warnings and begged us to be safe before they got up to leave. They were almost out of the door when I said, "Detective Benito, what's the web address to the fan club? I want to check it out, see if I can't find something."

He stared at me for a while. "It's But keep a low profile, please. We don't want to alert anyone. We want them to feel as if they can talk freely about _anything_, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks." Once they were gone, I ignored Tro and Q's attempts to get me to sit down and talk about my "feelings" and went into my room. I made sure that the blinds were closed tight and I sat down at my laptop and logged onto the internet.

I opened the website, and my eyes immediately caught the membership counter. Close to a million people where full-fledged paying members, who each paid a fee each year. Hot damn, this place was a gold mine! I growled underneath my breath as I briefly considered filing a lawsuit, but then my focused returned.

Okay. So, what should I do first? I cruised around the site and then realized that I'd have to sign up to access all of the juicy stuff. Damn. I couldn't use _my _credit card to sign up, or else it would be traced back to me, and that sure as hell wasn't keeping a low profile. "Fuck!" I growled underneath my breath. Now what?

"Here, use this one."

I nearly fell out of my seat in surprise. I turned around and face Quatre who was standing there, holding out a credit card. "W-whose is that?"

"It's liked to an anonymous account," he said, pushing it into my hand. "Trowa and I use it when we don't want our movements to be tracked, and so far no one has linked it back to us. Go ahead and use it."

"Thanks a bunch, Q. I'll pay the fee off," I mumbled as I entered the proper information.

"Don't worry about it." He stood there for a while as I deliberated on an appropriate screen name. I ended up choosing The Original. Pretty bland, wouldn't stand out. Or spark any interest.

"Duo . . . maybe you should go to bed for a while," Quatre suggested gently. "This'll be around later."

"Yeah, well, tell that to _Adam_ who's probably lying naked on a cold table in the city morgue," I bit out, immediately regretting my harsh tone. "Sorry, Q. It's just . . . this has gotten _way_ more serious that it was before. It was okay that he was screwing around with _me_, I guess, but now he's started to hurt _other_ people. That's just . . . not acceptable."

Quatre rubbed my back. "I know, Duo. I know. But you shouldn't blame yourself for this. You didn't ask for any of this."

"I know, but I still got it. I can't just sit back and let Adam's death go unpunished. I'm going to do my best to help the cops find this killer."

" . . . _without_ getting in the way of the police, right?" He said, giving me a look.

I laughed. It felt good. "Of course! Now go off to bed and leave me alone. I'm on a mission."

He reluctantly left, and I was finally free to enter the website's message boards and chat rooms. I entered the forums first, and I was (pleasantly) surprised to find that there was a section called "Bash This!" where people gripped about Heero, Wufei and Relena. I entered it and read each message, grinning at the insults that were splashed across them. Nothing suspicious there, but definitely worth a good laugh, especially since I was feeling like road kill ran over ten times.

Next I went to the room called "Duo Has My Heart," which was apparently a place where people who fancied themselves to be in love with me could come in and worship me and all of my fineness. Hmm. This seemed to be one of the busiest areas on the site.

I scanned the topic titles until I came across one that said, "Address/Phone #?" Oh, boy. Someone was looking for my _address_ and my _phone number_? Relax, Maxwell. I never had any personal info listed anywhere, especially not in a phone book. I opened up the topic's reply page. First there were a few comments that told the individual who'd asked to piss of and respect my privacy (a good idea, by the way), but the sixth reply actually contained accurate information! Well . . . accurate information from my _previous_ apartment anyway. But still, if someone had gotten a hold of that, it would only be a matter of time before someone found out more current information.

I wrote down the screen name of the person who'd supplied my _personal info_ and moved on.

Now _here_ was something interesting. A topic with the title "Duo hates roses!"

At first I was alarmed, but then I remembered that I'd shouted that out in a crowded mall. Well it could be a place to start. I clicked on it and opened the replies.

Several members wanted to know how the topic starter knew that I hated roses, but the guy, who's screen name was a 'hunkoluv' refused to divulge his source of information. That was certainly suspicious. Of course, he could've just been at the mall and heard me say it, or heard it from someone else, and was tying to sound like some big shot and get some attention. Still, I wrote his pathetic screen name down and underlined it three times. He was a terrific place to start.

As if finished making notes about the suspect, I caught sight of the time on the computer screen. I'd been sitting at that computer for two and a half hours. Uh, I could certainly feel it in my butt and my back. I was tired, physically, emotionally, and mentally. The bed looked really good right now . . .

I decided to hit the stack and start up again in the morning . . . er, _later_ in the morning, that is. I climbed warily into bed and buried my face into my pillow.

_I'm sorry, Adam. I'm so fucking sorry. I'll get this bastard for you, I promise._

And strangely enough, I could almost see him smiling at me.

**xOxOx**

"—should've _called_ me or something! This is ridiculous, totally ridiculous! _Now _the authorities are taking this serious, but _only _after someone has been killed. They're fucking lucky that it wasn't Duo who'd been hurt, because then I would've— "

"Huzzat?" I grumbled once again. Who the heck was making all of that noise? I sat up in the bed and glanced at the clock. It was a little after ten. Okay, a more reasonable hour, but there was _no_ reasonable hour to scream your head off.

"Calm down! You'll wake Duo up!" That was Quatre, who had to shout louder than the other person to be heard.

"Yeah, well, its too damn late!" I screamed back. I threw my blankets off of me and was just about to get out of bed when Heero came barreling into the room, followed by his boyfriend, Q and Trowa.

"I cannot believe that you did not call me when you heard about that murder," Heero growled angrily.

I glared at him. I was mad that I'd been yanked out of my peaceful slumber, mad that Adam was dead for no damn reason, and angry that Heero was angry with _me_ about something that I really had no control over. "What, am I supposed to call you when I take a dump, too? Get over it Heero, we're not together anymore. Now back the fuck off!"

Trowa stepped forward and grabbed Heero by the arm. "Go downstairs. Let Duo have some time to actually _wake up_ before you start grilling him."

Heero looked ready to shake Trowa away, but Wufei also took Heero by the arm and led him out of the room. Q gave me an apologetic look and left.

Jerk. I didn't want to have to deal with Heero right now, but I'd have to face him sometime, so I might as well get it over with. I quickly brushed my teeth and put on some clothes before going downstairs to face crazy ass Heero Yuy.

They were all sitting in the living room, waiting expectantly. "Group meeting," I chirped with fake happiness. "Yay!" I sat on the floor as far away from Heero and Wufei as I could get without actually being in a different room.

"Two detectives came and questioned Heero today," Wufei said, starting off our meeting. "They seem to suspect him for the disappearance of some man named Peters and the murder of your date."

"Did you have a good alibi, Heero?" Quatre asked.

"I did. Wufei and I were having dinner at a restaurant at the time," said Heero, looking mad as hell. Ha. I could imagine that the grilling session with the cops hadn't been all fun and games. "Luckily I used a credit card, so there is proof that I couldn't have done anything to that man."

I gritted my teeth at that. He and Wufei had gone to a restaurant? The dumb bastard! He and I had never gone out like that. It was always microwave dinners, pizza or Chinese food. Jerk! "How convenient," I said, not too nicely. "Anyway, what are we meeting about? I've got a message board to lurk in."

Wufei gave me a look. "How can you think of a _message board_ at a time like this?"

Okay, right then I wanted to slap him so bad that my palm itched. I rubbed the offending palm on my jeans. "How could _you_ think of stealing my boyfriend when he was supposed to be with me?"

Before Wufei could say something back, Trowa held up his hand and shouted, "That's enough! We're not here about that, we're here about what we should be doing to keep Duo safe and to help put the murderer behind bars! To make sure that Duo is the safest that he can be we need to work together and pool all of our skills. The fighting has to stop."

Ouch. Jeeze, I'd rarely heard Trowa raise his voice _that_ loud, and I'd never really heard him say something that long. I had the decently to look sheepish as I tried to curl up and disappear into myself. "Sorry. I'm really sorry, I'm just fucking tired and scared and stuff. Sorry."

Trowa gave me a warm look. "I know." He turned back to the rest of the group. "Duo will not be returning to his apartment. He'll be staying here until this is all settled. Can we agree on that?"

Making decisions for me? Oh well. In this case, I didn't mind. Everyone nodded. Okay, one point settled.

"Trowa and I can take you to pick up the rest of your stuff, Duo," Quatre offered.

"Okay," I said.

"At work, you should be with at least one of us, preferably two of us, at all times," Wufei added. Huh. Like I wanted to spend time with _him_.

"Fine," I grunted. "What else?"

No one else said anything. We just looked at each other for a while. Man, if I'd asked them how to set up some explosions on an enemy base in order to ensure the most damage, I wouldn't have been able to get them to shut up! I guess this just showed that we really didn't know everything.

I stood up and rubbed my stomach, which was faintly rumbling. "Look, guys, this isn't a mission. We can't sit here and make some kind of battle strategy, all right. I think . . . I think that if we just use our heads, don't take any unnecessary risks, and let the cops do their jobs everything will be fine. Okay? Okay. Now, I'm starving, what's for breakfast?" I wandered out of the room and over to the kitchen.

Food. I needed something fattening, unhealthy, something that was sure to rot my arteries. Ohh, there were some donuts on the counter! Were they . . . ahh, yes, they were fresh! Could they be the frosted ones with the sprinkles? I peeked into the box. Oh. . . my favorite.

Someone had made bacon while I was asleep. There was a pile of it on the stove, still warm. I got three pieces of bread, a mound of bacon and three donuts, and decided that the only drink that would perfectly complement this fine meal was a 7-Up, of course!

I was just digging in when Quatre walked into the kitchen. "Oh my God, Duo, that's just . . . _uhh_!" Q practically shrieked in horror when he saw what I was eating.

"I know. _Great_, isn't it? I need some comfort food, Q. I need some real bad," I grumbled around a full mouth.

"Okay, okay. Eat what you want, you deserve it." Quatre got some tea and sat across from me, watching silently as I ate. After a while he remarked, "Well, at least you've got an appetite. That's good."

I nodded. No matter what, I would _always_ have an appetite. I quickly finished my meal, patted Quatre on the head and retreated back to my room. I logged back on to my fan club site and sifted through the various topics, but came up with nothing that I thought was really interesting. Well, I wasn't really an expert at this, so maybe the cops had caught something that I'd missed.

I was just about to call Benito about the two fan club members that I was suspicious about when Trowa came into the room, his face looking grim.

"Duo, you've got another gift," he said.

Oh no. I rushed downstairs with him and into the living room where the guys were gathered around a giant white teddy bear with a black shoebox tied to his waist with a red ribbon. Quatre was on the phone with who I assumed was one of the detectives. I went up to the bear and circled it. The box was enticing me, just calling out to me, begging me to open it.

I should've probably waited for the cops to show up, but I couldn't. I just _couldn't_.

I yanked the box away from the bear, shuddering as I heard something rattling inside.

"Duo, don't!" Wufei exclaimed. "Let the police open it."

"No. It was for me, I was meant to see it, so . . ." I sat the box on the coffee table and stared. Okay. I would open it on the count of three . . . onetwothree!!

Oh god!! Oh my GOD!! The sick bastard, the fucking sick bastard!

In the box lay what I could only assume were Adam Hurwitz's genitals and his hands resting in a mound of cotton balls, still covered in blood.

My stomach heaved and rolled, and I was able to make it to the trash can in the kitchen before I chucked up my delicious breakfast. I sank to the floor, tears rolling down my face and shaking like there was no tomorrow as I heard screams similar to my own, probably from Quatre, coming from the living room.

Through my tears of fear and frustration I could see Quatre running upstairs, likely headed for a bathroom or a trash can himself. Trowa quickly followed after him, and a pale faced Wufei and Heero came into the kitchen to join me. Wufei took the trash outside and Heero sat down on the floor next to me. He awkwardly patted my back as I cried into my hands, still shaking like a leaf.

Then the doorbell rang, and Heero quickly got up to answer it. In rushed Detective Benito, who came straight over to me. "Duo! Duo, are you alright?"

"I-I-I," was all I could manage. I rubbed my face hard, trying to scrub away the images of the contents of the box, but they just wouldn't go away. "Oh God!" I wailed loudly and buried my face in the detective's shoulder.

"What happened?" he demanded to Heero sternly.

"Another gift came. The contents were . . . disturbing," Heero said plainly, his voice void of any emotion.

How the hell could Heero sound so uncaring at a time like this? I snapped. "Disturbing? DISTURBING?! Seeing Relena Peacecraft in her drawers is _disturbing_, Heero! This is just fucking SICK! Some guy sends me the missing body parts of—"

"Whoa!" Benito exclaimed, pulling him away from me slightly so that he could stare into my eyes. "You found the vic's missing parts?"

"Yes! The parts you never even told me were missing!" I exclaimed. "Go look, see for yourself. Its in the living room. I just hope you haven't eaten for a while . . ."

Benito flipped open his phone to call for backup and stalked into the living room. He came back seconds later looking just as bad as the rest of us. "Okay. Okay. We've found the missing parts, maybe we can lift some prints from the box or the parts themselves . . ."

"Why is he doing this to me?" I whispered. "Why send me that? I don't get it . . . I-I need to lay down."

Then Trowa came into the kitchen and helped me to my feet. Together we went upstairs where he helped me into bed. "Where's Q?" I asked warily.

"He's resting too. It was a shock . . . for all of us. No one expected that," Trowa said softly.

"Sorry. Shoulda listened to you guys and kept the damn lid on. Tell Q I didn't mean to upset him."

"He knows. It's all right. Just get some rest." He left quietly.

It took me a while, but eventually I _did _fall asleep. I hadn't really wanted to, but I guess that being unconscious was easier than dealing with the fact that the missing body parts of a guy were in the living room, and that my stalker wasn't as harmless as I thought he was, and that I was scared out of my mind.

But he'd fucked with the wrong guy. No _way_ was I just going to sit back and let him kill other people because he had a freaky and unhealthy obsession with me! Not only did he have the cops to worry about, but now _Shinigami_ was on the job.

No one else would be hurt on my watch.

**xOxOx**

The rest of the day went peacefully, although the house was understandably quieter than usual. Quatre walked around the place like a pale zombie, trying to stay positive, and Trowa had reverted back to solider mode, ensuring that the house was properly secure. I didn't know where Wufei had gone (and I really didn't care), but Trowa told me that Heero had gone to work. Work! Insert eye roll here.

The three of us decided that we would go into work the next day. Tro had done his best to try to keep me at the mansion/fortress, but I'd heard that the Preventers were holding a memorial service at work for Adam, and I knew that I just had to be there.

So early the next morning, Tro, Q and I got into the SUV and went back to my apartment to get the rest of my things. I was pleased to find that the flowers were gone, but the god awful smell and some petals still lingered. Oh well. Not like I'd be staying anyway.

While Trowa and Quatre set to work in the living room gathering my CDs and DVDs, I went into my bedroom and began rummaging though the clothes in my closet. I packed the essentials and a couple of my favorite pieces before I stumbled upon an old outfit that had gone unnoticed for years.

I remembered hiding it from myself long ago, maybe thinking that if I never looked atr it, all of the painful memories associated with it would just fade away. But, of course, they hadn't. What hadn't I tossed the thing out long ago?

"You all done?"

Ack! I whirled around and gave Trowa a small smile. He was standing in the doorway with a box in his arm, looking very concerned that I was staring into my closet.

"Er, almost! Give me a few more minutes," I said with a grin and waited for him to leave . . . but he just stood there. I rolled my eyes. "Alone? I _refuse_ to go through my undies with you standing there."

He snickered, shook his head, and thankfully left.

I sighed warily and stared at the outfit a moment longer before tossing it into my suitcase and zipping it shut.

**xOxOx**

We returned to the fortress/mansion and got ready for work. After taking a long, hot shower I wrapped myself in a fuzzy white bathrobe and went into my bedroom, where I kicked open my suitcase, and there was the damn outfit, lying on top of all of the other poorly folded clothes, amazingly wrinkle and lint free, the fabric still soft after all this time.

Without another thought, I took the outfit and put it on inside the bathroom. I would wear it one more time, just _one last time_, and then . . .

Growth spurts aren't generally associated with L2 street kids, so the shirt was a little tight in the shoulders and the legs were a bit short, but overall it wasn't that bad. Satisfied that I didn't look _too _weird, I put on a pair of shoes and a black leather jacket and went downstairs where Q and Trowa were waiting for me by the door.

Quatre's eyebrows shot way up and his mouth formed a little o of surprise. Trowa just frowned, and was about to make a comment before I said quickly, "Shall we go? I don't want to be late for the service."

Neither of them said a word as we got into the SUV, Q and Tro in the front seats and be in the back. Throughout the entire ride, they sent each other little looks when they thought I wasn't looking and glanced at me through the rear view mirror.

Their reactions were understandable, I guess.

After all, it had been a while since I'd last worn my priest suit.

**xOxOx**

The service was being held first thing in the morning in the office's break room, and by the time the three of us arrive, the place was packed. I wondered just how many people there actually _knew _Adam, and how many had just shown up because they were curious, nosey, or wanted the free donuts and juice. On our way to the front of the room, I (purposefully) bumped into some people who were laughing loudly over cups of juice, making them spill their drinks down the front of their shirts, and tripped several of my coworkers who thought they were slick enough to sneak in, steal some donuts and make a hasty exit. What the hell was wrong with people these days?

Anyway, when we got to the front, I was really surprised to find Heero and Wufei there. Maybe they'd seen how upset I'd been over Adam's death and had come to lend some support. Hmm, I'd have to thank them for that later.

The five of us sat down together, and not too long after that, the service began. Une stood next to a big photo of Adam that was sitting on a table surrounded by tall white candles. As she began to speak, I could only stare at that picture, which had captured a moment in time where Adam had been happy, smiling . . . alive.

Eep! My thought was tightening and that all too familiar burning sensation flooded my eyes. No! I didn't want to cry anymore. Crying wouldn't allow me to go back in time and decided _not_ to go on that damn date. So I quickly focused on the black and white checkered time floor instead, and the rebel tears slowly began to retreat.

"—an asset to the Preventers organization and will be missed," Une was saying in a very business-like fashion. I guess it was hard to stand up in front of a group of people who were grieving and say things about a person you really didn't know. Wouldn't want to be in _her_ shoes right now.

Ha. At that moment, I didn't even want to be in my own.

"But I can't speak about Mr. Hurwitz on all levels. His sister can, and I will now turn the floor over to her."

At that my head snapped up. Sister? Adam had a _sister_? I blinked rapidly as Une stepped aside and allowed a petite, attractive red-headed woman dressed in all black took her place. His sister began to tell a story bout Adam and his desire to live forever while frequently sneaking glances in my direction.

My chest tightened. Did she know about my connection with Adam's death? Did she know that it was my fault that he was dead? Did she blame me? Did the rest of his family blame me?

Argh! I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get out of there. Quietly muttering excuses, I got up from my seat and quickly left the room. When I got out into the hallway, I instantly felt some of the weight remove itself from my shoulders. I leaned against the wall and released a heavy breath.

The clicking of a woman's high heal grabbed my attention. There was Adam's sister, coming over to stand in front of me.

"Um, Mr. Maxwell?" she asked hesitantly.

I avoided her gaze and stared just over her shoulder. "Yeah. That's me." I was half expecting her to deck me, so you can imagine my surprise when she smiled!

"Oh! I—well, I want to thank you," she said, rubbing her slightly puffy red eyes.

"_Thank _me? For _what_?" I asked, totally shocked. Didn't she hate me? "I mean, don't you know about—"

"Yes. My family and I know all about everything. But," she said firmly, taking my hand. "I don't think you realize just how much that date meant to him. And being here, at this service today, even though you didn't know him that well . . . he would've been pleased."

I just gapped stupidly, unable to say a word.

"My family doesn't blame you at all," she continued. "Adam always idolized you. We grew up on L2 ourselves, and things were pretty difficult until our mother married a business man and we moved to Earth. He thought that you were the greatest thing since sliced bread!" She laughed. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that no one thinks that you're at fault here. You're a victim too."

I smiled weakly at her. "T-thanks." That was all I could say. She shook my hand before leaving, and now I was alone with my thoughts.

There was no way that Adam's sister could've known how much that talked meant to me. I mean, the guilt was eating me alive, and the thought that his family might blame me for his death had weighed heavily on my mind. I felt a lot better now, about a lot of things.

Ha. I probably shouldn't have, you know. It wasn't over, my stalker was still out there somewhere, watching, waiting for me to slip up so that he could get his hand on me . . .

Turns out he didn't have to wait that long.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Okay, so everyone's wondering about Zechs, and when he's coming into the fic. Give me TWO MORE CHAPTERS, just about, and you'll see him after that, okay? Promise. Oh, and please excuse any errors, I wanted to get this up before I flew . . .


	6. Life's a, well, You Know

**Author's Note:** Well! You know, I really had no idea that the last line of chapter five would get people all worked up! Umm . . . sorry? (Not!) I was just looking for a good way to end the chapter and that was the first thing that came to mind. Gotta keep you guys on the edge of your seat, right?

**xOxOx**

I never did return to the service for Adam. Still feeling chocked up, I lingered around in the hallway for a while until Quatre joined me, and we went down to the cafeteria for a snack. I bought, well, got for _free_, a rather large piece of chocolate cake and a Mountain Dew, since they were out of 7-Up, and made faces at Q as he grabbed a small salad. We sat down at our usual table and started eating in silence.

I licked a big glob of icing off of my plastic spork (foon?) and sucked on it, trying to make sure that I had gotten all of the sugary sweetness into my mouth. "Ya know . . . it was pretty nice of Heero and Wufei to show up today, wasn't it?"

Quatre nodded. "Yep. Maybe they're extending an olive branch?" He gave me a significant look.

Ha. I knew what he was trying to say. I just wrinkled my nose and snorted, deciding to play dumb. "Eww, I hate olives . . . oh! _Oh_, you mean . . ."

Q giggled and snagged a piece of my cake with his own confused utensil, his eyes fluttering closed as he sucked on the spork/foon even harder than I had. I pushed my cake over to him and grabbed his salad, drenching it in Q's honey mustard dressing so that it actually tasted like something. (How people manage to eat a salad with no dressing is way beyond me.) He gave me a grateful look and happily inhaled my cake.

"You've got chocolate all over your face, Quatre," Trowa said from just behind me.

I chocked on a piece of lettuce. Where had _he_ come from?

Tro, Wufei and Heero sat down at the table with us. Heero and Tro were empty handed, but Wufei had a giant piece of pie and some tea, which he began to ate with as much gusto as Quatre.

I watched with big eyes as Trowa proceeded to wipe the chocolate from his boyfriend's face with his fingers and then _lick_ his fingers quite innocently. Quatre was red, and I looked straight at Trowa and said loudly, "You perv!"

Heero grunted, his face blank as usual, apparently unfazed by the public display of affection. "What did that woman say to you, Duo?"

I gave him a look that said 'mind your own business.' "That's private."

"She didn't harass you, did she?" Trowa demanded suddenly, looking dangerous.

I rolled my eyes. "No! She was really nice, okay? It was nothing."

"Hn," was Heero's reply.

"So!" I said, licking up the rest of the honey mustard sauce from the plastic bowl. "What are we doing today while we are _not_ working?" Wufei looked scandalized and shook his head. I just smiled at him sweetly.

"Well, I think I'd like to help you look through that message board," Quatre said, finishing off the rest of his treat. He looked very sad that it was gone and I struggled not to snicker.

"Sure, why not?" I got to my feet and stretched. "Let's go."

"Wait," Heero said, standing too. "I am willing to aid in your search."

I made a face at him. "Believe me, you do _not_ want to go on that website Heero. Neither do _you_," I said to Wufei, who looked puzzled.

Heero frowned. "But—"

"No," I firmly said. This time I wouldn't let Heero do whatever he wanted. I couldn't have him getting in the way, possibly revealing himself on accident and blowing the entire investigation. Heero wasn't good with people, and probably would be even _worse_ with them online, since reading their face or body language was out of the question. "You are _not_ going to get on that website, okay? You're not very good at keeping a low profile, and you don't have a secure, untraceable credit card—"

"How do _you _know?" demanded Heero as he scowled furiously.

"Oh believe me, I know," I said sweetly. "Drop it Heero. If anything happens, I'll keep you informed, all right? Let's go, Q."

We quickly left the cafeteria. Quatre gave me a huge smile. "Way to put your foot down! I'm proud of you."

I puffed out my chest and winked at him. "Good, huh?"

"You know it! So, I'm trying to think of a username . . . how about 'blondesrmorefun'?"

**xOxOx**

For about three hours we lurked around the message boards and on the live chats. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of speculation on my future with my most recent date . . . until someone posted a link to an online article reporting Adam's death. Now my love life was on the forefront on the message boards, and the members were debating on who I'd end up with.

There was an interesting little poll going, about who would become my next love interest, and Quatre nearly _died_ when he saw the current results of it. His face had gone bright red and he'd began to stutter when he saw that Trowa was in the lead with—get this!—seventy-six percent of the votes. Heero was next with ten, and Q came in next five. The rest was divided amongst other various choices. I just laughed. Like Trowa would ever leave his blond lover for me, for anyone. Shows how much these people really knew.

Anyway, this was a good thing. All of the fanatics that were "in love" with me (or _losers _as I like to call them) were coming out in droves, posting this and that about how I'd end up with one of them, not Trowa, not Q and _certainly _not Heero, so we had a lot of stuff to work with.

Once Quatre and I had compiled a list of suspicious individuals, I called Benito and gave him the names, along with the others that I'd found before, and then we downloaded (legally, I _swear_) the latest episodes of my favorite anime, broke out the popcorn and pigged out.

You know . . . just another day at the office. Um, besides the memorial, of course.

The first thing I did we returned to the mansion/fortress was to bring my laptop into the kitchen and logged onto Quatre was on the phone with someone in the living room and Tro was sitting close next to me, shuffling through the various menus of delivery places that they kept in the kitchen. It was funny—they had about thirty something menus, arranged by type of food and kept neatly in a binder. Hey, we were all young men and none of us were really all that great at cooking, so it made plenty sense to us.

"What do you think?" I asked, not looking up from the computer screen.

"Pizza," he replied as he eyed the menu of our usual pizza joint. "Is Quatre still on the phone?"

"No, I'm not," Quatre said, coming into the kitchen. I glanced up and took notice of his posture—arms crossed over his chest and chin raised, not to mention that there was a suspicious gleam in his eyes. Uh oh. Someone was in _trouble_ . . . and I hoped it wasn't me. "What are we ordering?"

"Pizza," Trowa replied, getting up to get the phone.

"Didn't we already have pizza this week? How about some Italian?"

And for some strange reason, they began to _argue_ over what food that we were going to order. I just focused on the message boards and stayed out of it for a while because one, I really didn't care what kind of food we had for dinner as long as a lot of it ended up in my stomach, and two, I knew better than to argue with Q when he got _that look_. Why Tro even bothered, I don't really know.

Then I realized that things were getting a little out of hand.

Quatre was glaring at Trowa, who was just standing there looking slightly amused. Trowa apparently hadn't realized that Quatre was serious. Big mistake. "You aren't even considering my opinion, are you?" He demanded as he stamped his foot angrily.

Ya know, sometimes I wonder how smart Trowa really is. Because what he did next was just _really dumb_. He did his silent laugh thingy for a little, and then actually laughed out loud.

Quatre looked pissed. "Oh, you think it's funny? Do you want me to _cook_ or something?"

"NO!" I exploded, jumping up from my chair, eyes wide with apprehension and instantly Trowa stopped laughing. Quatre's food is _so_not funny, okay? Take my word for it. "Okay, you two, what's going on?" I asked, giving them each a look.

"I want Italian," Quatre said, "and _Trowa_ wants pizza again." He glared furiously.

"Oh," I said dumbly. "Well . . . technically, isn't pizza an Italian food?"

Quatre turned his evil look to me. Hey! What did _I _do? I was just trying to get them to stop being dumb! "It figures. Of course you'd take _his_ side." Quatre gave the both of us one more headed glance before storming out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

I was vaguely aware that my mouth was hanging open as I turned to Trowa, who was busy looking equally stunned. Uh, what the hell had _that _been about? "Well . . . _hell_. What did I do?"

"I don't know. What did _I_ do?"

I just shrugged. When Trowa moved to follow his boyfriend, I shook my head. "Let me do it, okay?" I made it to the doorway before turning back to face him. "Oh, and I'm making an executive decision, kay? Order some damn Chinese."

I rushed up the stairs and to Tro and Q's room. I turned the knob and snickered when it didn't move. Locked. Did Q honestly think that a _lock_ would keep me, Duo Maxwell, out of a room if I really wanted in? C'mon, he knew me way better than that. I reached into my hair and took out one of my trusty picks.

What can I say? Old habits die hard, some harder than others.

It took me only a few seconds to jimmy the lock. I pushed the door open and walked into the room . . . only to trip over a rope that was stretched in front of the doorway and flying across the room where I landed gracefully on my face. Ouch! Who the heck put _rope_ across their doorway?!

Apparently Quatre Winner did, because he darted into the bedroom from the attached bath and sighed disappointedly. "I _thought_ you were Trowa."

I picked myself up from the floor and rubbed my face. "Oh, so that trap was meant for him and not me?"

He looked me up and down before plopping down on the bed. "I'm not really sure."

I cautiously sat next to him. Not that close, mind you, because a person rig a room so that an innocent, unsuspecting person would go flying into the wall once they entered for no reason at all. "Okay, what the heck is going on with you?"

"Wufei called me earlier."

So that's who he'd been on the phone with. " . . . okay. So?"

Quatre turned to stare into my eyes. "Do you have something to tell me, Duo?"

"Umm . . . I don't _think _so . . ."

"Oh? Think harder."

Eep! I began to squirm. "Umm . . . er . . . _well_ . . . OKAY! I really _did_ trash those bunny slippers, but I'll get you another pair as soon as possible, I swear!"

"Look, Duo, just tell me the truth. If _he_ was the one to come on to _you_, then fine, we can work this out and still be friends, but—"

"Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about?"

Quatre let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed my face. "Don't play dumb with me! I know better than anyone else how smart you are! Just tell me if you have something going on with Trowa, exactly what happened and which one of you started it!"

OKAY. Now _that_ was totally unexpected. He thought I was fooling around with Trowa? "Are you freaking _crazy_?! You think that Tro and I are messing around behind your back?!" Q confirmed it by releasing me and looking away. "What the hell gave you that idea? Who told you—Wufei . . ." I growled.

That bastard. Just who the hell did he think he was, filling Quatre's head with such utter nonsense? Oh, yes, he and I will be having a nice . . . _talk_ pretty soon.

"He said that he was suspicious of you and Trowa, that he caught you two in a compromising position!" Quatre said accusingly.

Compromising position? What the freak did that mean? "Oh, come on, Quatre! That's so vague that you can't be sure if he meant that we were hugging or giving each other hand jobs!"

Q blushed and bit his bottom lip. "I . . . he said that he saw you two together the day that you found those pictures in your locker."

"Together? Oh! Look, Trowa was just comforting me by letting me rest my head on his shoulder," I said, pulling him back to the bed. "Look. Believe me when I say this. There is absolutely nothing going on between Trowa and me other than a good friendship. He is _all yours_."

"But the online poll—"

I shook my head furiously. "No fucking buts, okay? Whose face did he practically _lick_ today in front of Heero and Wufei? Certainly not _mine_."

"I . . . I'm sorry. I'm just being . . ." Quatre seemed to deflate as he began to look very sheepish.

"No, I understand. You were just scared that you were going to lose the love of your life. Don't worry about it."

Quatre got back on his feet. "You're right. I'm stupid for thinking that Trowa would do something like that to me, and for thinking that you would too. It's just that when Wufei told me, I was so scared . . ."

"S'okay. Go back downstairs and make up with your man," I said with a grin. "I'll be out of the room by the time you two come up here to wreck another bed, and I'll call you guys when the food gets arrives."

Once Quatre was out of the room, my smiled quickly vanished. Just who the hell did Wufei think he was, accusing me of seeing my best friend's boyfriend when _he'd_ stolen Heero from me? Ha! Well, he wouldn't get away with this one. Tomorrow I'd give my coworkers something to _really _talk about.

**xOxOx**

About an hour later I was busy slurping up some noodles and watching Trowa and Quatre lovingly make eyes at each other when the phone rang. I jumped up and got it, hoping that it wasn't Wufei calling back to speak to Quatre about my (nonexistent) romantic relationship with Trowa. "Hello, Duo here," I said politely.

"Duo, just the person I wanted to speak to."

What a pleasant surprise, it was the hunky cop! "Hey Detective. What's up? Got any leads?"

"Actually, we think we've found someone worth looking into. One of the usernames that you gave to us is looking pretty good," he said almost leisurely.

Cool. If I ever got tired of getting paid for gossiping and watching movies, maybe I'd consider becoming a detective. "Oh? That's great, I guess. So, which psycho is it?"

"Well, it turns out that the man who gave out your former address and phone number on the message board used to work for the Preventers in the records room. We think that he's a good place to start." Okay, now _that _really got my attention.

"Which would explain how he had access to my info," I replied, tugging on the end of my braid thoughtfully. "And how those photos got into my locker."

"That's what we were thinking. So we've brought the guy in for questioning and we want you to come down and see if this guy divulges any information that you may consider private or not well known, you know? Like . . ." He drifted off momentarily before chuckling deeply. "Like if you've got a birthmark on your right ass cheek or something."

Hmm . . . You can check if you want. "Sounds good. I can be there in about ten minutes."

"Good. Don't come alone, just in case this guy isn't the one. See you in a little."

When I turned around, Trowa was leaning in to lick some sauce from Quatre's cheek. I guess it was safe to assume that everything was okay between them now. "Eww! Little Duo doesn't want to see Mommy and Daddy sucking face! Get a room!"

Quatre had the good sense to look embarrassed, but Trowa just looked very smug and content with himself. He probably should be, because I heard a _lot_ of happy squeals coming from Quatre up in that bedroom earlier.

"That was the cute cop. He needs me to come down to the station and listen to a guy they brought in," I said, finishing off the rest of my food. "Can one of you come with me?"

"We'll both go," Trowa said.

The three of us got into the SUV and went down to the police station. To be honest, I was kind of nervous about this whole thing. I mean, I know that the questioning rooms have that one way mirror and intercom thing, but being that close to someone who was so freakishly obsessed with me that he was willing to stalk me was kind of unnerving. I kept telling myself on the way to the station that the place would be full of cops, and that the man had to be a complete idiot to try something with all of those officers around.

We were lead directly to the interrogation room where a very scruffy looking man was sitting slouched over in a rickety looking wood chair. His brown hair was greasy and shoulder length, and his eyes were bloodshot. Despite his scruffy looking clothes, he looked well fed because he was rather round in the middle, and his shirt didn't exactly fit over his gut. I wrinkled my nose. Could _this_ lard butt really be the guy who was stalking me? Yuck.

Walker and another cop were inside the room, towering over him, trying to intimidate the guy, I guess. Quatre, Trowa and I were joined by Benito, who knocked on the glass without saying a word to us. Right down to business.

Walker was the first to speak. "So, Martin, do you want to tell us how you knew of Duo Maxwell's former address?"

The Martin guy snorted. "You pigs already know, don't you? Unless ya'll haven't been doin' your homework. If that's the case, then get out of my friggen face and go do what my tax dollars pay ya to do."

The other cop leaned in menacingly. "Don't get smart with us. You took confidential files from the Preventers HQ, didn't you?"

"Ha! You fuckers ain't getting me to admit to that! That's a damn felony." The Martin dude looked pretty good about the fact that the cops hadn't gotten him to fess up to a crime.

Walker shook his head and slapped a manila folder onto the table. "Fine. You don't need to admit to it, we just would've made your life a lot easier if you had. We found copies of private information from Mr. Maxwell's Preventers file in your apartment."

"W-what?! You planted that!"

The other cop banged his fist on the table, causing Martin to jump about a mile high. "Stop wasting our time! You admit to this and we'll cut you some slack when this goes to trial."

Martin licked his lips nervously and began wiping his hands on his pants. "O-oh?"

"Yeah," Walker continued. "And maybe we'll forget about that stash of weed we found in your closet if you cooperate with us on this."

Now the guy was really beginning to squirm. "Okay. So . . . yeah, I took those files like, a year ago or something, okay? I wasn't gonna do any harm with 'em, ya know? Just . . ." He looked embarrassed. "I just wanted to _see_ _him_."

I winced. If only you could've heard how desperate he'd sounded. It was just . . . _sad_.

"Him? You mean Duo Maxwell?" asked Walker.

"Yeah."

"But you two worked together, you could've just gone up to him and said something," the other detective asked.

"Naw. Naw, he's just so . . . you wouldn't understand. Besides, that other pilot—the crazy maniacal one that he was with wouldn't let anyone near him. And like he'd give me, a lowly records guy, the time of day," Martin finished rather pathetically.

"So what did you do with the information?" Walker demanded.

"I . . . er, I went to the place and, ya know, _looked_. Umm, at him. He liked to sit in front of this window and read sometimes, and I'd just watch until he went to bed." The guy then looked frantic. "Man, that sounded bad. I ain't no crazy stalker, all right?!"

Walker held up his hands. "No one is saying you are. Is that all you did? Just look?"

"Er . . . I called a few times to hear his voice. And that's it, I _swear_."

The other cop shook his head. "Funny, but I don't believe you."

Walker chimed in. "Neither do I. See this is valuable information, or it was at the time. What was the price someone had to pay to get this stuff?" He jabbed at the folder.

"I d-dunno what the hell you're talking about," stuttered Martin anxiously.

"Don't you? Then how come, right after you got fired from your Preventers job, that you began cashing checks at your bank from various individuals for precisely one thousand five hundred credits?" Walker put another folder in front of the suspect. "We've got your bank records right here."

Alarm bells went off in my head. Woah. This was bad. My personal information had been up for _sale_? _And for a measly one thousand five hundred creds?_ C'mon . . .

"OKAY!! So I sold it to some people! No harm, Mr. Maxwell hasn't been hurt!" exclaimed Martin.

"Maybe he hasn't _physically_, but some other shit's been going down. I think you know what we're talking about," Walker said.

"N-no, I don't. I swear!"

The other cop threw a couple of photos at the suspect. "You don't remember this?"

I squinted at the pictures, but from this far, I couldn't see anything. "What are those?" I asked quickly.

"Pictures of the crime scene at Mr. Hurwitz's home," Benito answered grimly.

Oh, eww. Apparently Martin agreed with me because he violently shoved the pictures away and lurched back in his chair. His face looked kind of green as he covered his mouth.

"You sick fucks! I don't know anything about that dude's murder, I swear!"

"Do you have Mr. Maxwell's current address?" the other cop demanded.

"YEAH! Okay, yes, I have that too!"

"How did you get it?" That was Walker.

"A friend of mine got the new information from the file room. His name is Frank Doles. I can give you his address, his phone number, his Social, his birth date, maybe _he_ did it but I didn't, I swear to _God_ and all that is holy that I did not kill that man and I have not done anything bad to Mr. Maxwell—"

I rolled my eyes and turned away from the sad sight. "He can't possibly be the man who's been stalking me."

Benito raised an eyebrow at me. "Why do you say that?"

"Because this guy is a fucking idiot," I said honestly. Quatre made a face and Trowa nodded in agreement. "Look, you guys arrested him and read him his rights?"

"We arrested him for the weed, yes . . ."

"Then why the hell hasn't he asked for a lawyer? He could've denied everything that didn't concern the weed until the cows came home, but instead he's sitting in that chair spilling his guts . . ." I glanced back at him. "Which he has quite a lot of, actually. And you're telling me that _this_ is the guy who sent me several dozen roses and filled my apartment with other flowers? Does he shop at the Salvation Army for his clothes and secretly drive a BMW to his corner office?"

Benito struggled to keep his face straight, but Q and Tro snickered. "Um, no."

I grinned. "Not your guy then. I mean, my stalker was smart enough not to leave very many clues behind at Adam's crime scene. This guy is just . . ."

Benito nodded. "I agree. We're going to look into the people who enough cash to purchase that information from him and see what we come up with. Thanks for coming down."

. . . That was it? Very anti-climactic, ne? Thought so.

That night I went to bed feeling very empty. Why couldn't Martin have been my stalker? Then he'd be behind bars, unable to hurt anyone ever again, and I would be safe to undress in the middle of my own room without fear and to go out on dates with whoever the hell I chose.

I suppose I know why. _That_ would've been too easy.

**xOxOx**

With my computer gone for 'routine maintenance,' the next day at work I sat in my torture cube doing the only thing I could think of—I sat in my chair, balancing a pencil with my nose. After about an hour, I'd gotten the hang of it. All I had to do was sit back and angle my head _just so _and—

"Hey, Quatre!" I called as the blond passed by, sitting up quickly and letting my pencil fall to the floor. He stopped in his place and peered over the walls of my cubicle.

"Duo! What's going on?"

"You wanna go get something to eat?" _Please say yes, I'm dying of boredom!_

"I'd love to, but sorry, I can't," Q said, and I could see the regret on his face. "Une wants to speak to me, Trowa and Heero."

Hey! Why was I being left out? "Oh . . . about what?"

Quatre shrugged his shoulders and made a face. "Who knows. Trowa and I haven't been . . . ahh, _taking breaks_ in public places anymore, so that can't be it. And I can't imagine what Heero could've done to get in trouble." He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "But, I know someone who can take you to the cafeteria. Hey Wufei!"

I jumped up out of my seat. "What?!"

He pinned me with a heated look and dropped his voice dangerously. "Wufei was just trying to be a good friend, okay? It was all a misunderstanding, and I think that with all of the crap that's been going on lately, it would be best to try to bury the hatchet. Got it?"

Uh oh, Scary Quatre had returned. "Oh, sure, sure. Try to bury the hatchet . . . I'm down with that!"

A sweet smile blossomed on Q's face. "Good! That's what I thought."

Wufei came up to his side, and as I glared at him he was unable to meet my eyes.

"Wufei, I think there are some things that you and Duo need to discuss. Why don't you take him down to the cafeteria and get a bite to eat and talk?" Quatre didn't wait for a reply from Wufei. "Great! Thanks for agreeing. I better be going, have fun!"

Damn! Quatre was lucky that he didn't have anymore slippers for me to trash because . . .

Wufei cleared his throat. "Ah, I think that Quatre is right. I think I would like to sit and talk with you."

Fine. Whatever. I would just be too busy stuffing my face to listen to listen to Wufei's big mouth. I know that I promised myself that I would give the office something to gossip over the water cooler about, but I really hadn't thought anything up because of Benito's surprise call. Time to just go with the flow, I guess.

So reluctantly I left my cubicle and followed Wufei in silence as we walked down the hallway and towards the cafeteria. We were almost there when a young intern stopped us.

"Mr. Chang, Ms. Une is requesting your presence in her office right away," the woman said firmly and authoritatively. Well, s_omeone_ took their job very seriously.

I frowned. What on earth could this possibly be about? And why wasn't _I _invited? "Did she say anything about me?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Maxwell. However, Dr. David Rankin is asking for you. He wants to see you immediately in the infirmary, examination room three," she added.

Wufei looked torn. That's right, the guys had settled on having someone accompany me everywhere. I turned to him. "Go on, Wufei. Preventers business takes priority. I'm sure this _lovely_ intern can take me down to the infirmary," I said. I'd be rid of him then, and maybe I'd have time to prepare myself for a cheesy, sappy, heartfelt powwow. Er . . . probably not.

"Well . . ." Wufei gave the woman a once over. "I'm giving you an assignment." The intern snapped to attention. I snorted. Suck up. "You are to assist Mr. Maxwell to the infirmary, is that understood? Do not let him out of your sight. And as for you, Duo, I want you to wait down there when you get done. One of us will be down as soon as possible."

"Aye, aye, captain," I muttered sarcastically. I started walking away and the eager intern quickly ran after me. I happily left her standing in the hallway when I entered the infirmary.

One of the nurses recognized me, smiled, and said, "The doctor is waiting for you in examination room three."

Ah, so he was. The doc was digging through a drawer for something, and when I entered, he turned slightly and gave me a smile.

"Hello Duo."

"Hi doc. What's this about?" I asked, coming further into the room and closing the door behind me. I leaned against the counter next to the sink and eyed the man curiously. He turned back to whatever he was searching for.

"I just wanted to check up on that burn, to make sure that it hasn't become infected," he said, still digging.

Burn? Oh, that thing. I'd forgotten. "Actually, it totally slipped my mind. It doesn't really bother me much," I replied, pulling up my sleeve.

"Understandable. You've . . . probably had a lot on your mind."

Sure I did. Heero and Wufei, the stalker, Adam's death and Peters' disappearance. "Um, I suppose," I said slowly, wondering just _what_ he'd been referring to. "And I guess I have a pretty high tolerance level for pain," I continued, my eyes trailing down to a book on the counter beside me. "I mean, being a former soldier and all."

"Of course."

I turned my back to him and stared down at the book. Well, not the _book_ per se, but what was peeking out from under it. It looked like a photograph, and the part that I could see looked strangely familiar, like a long brown rope . . .

I glance over my shoulder before slowly lifting the book and drawing the photo out. When it was finally free and I got a good look at it, I froze in place as my blood ran cold.

It was a picture of me leaving my apartment with a box in hand, taken the day I'd gone back to my place to get some clothes.

And there was another.

I swear that for a moment there my heart stopped. Because the other picture was of me undressing. An exact copy of one that I'd handed over to the police.

. . . Dr. David Rankin was my stalker!

"Ummm . . . you know," I said slowly, trying to make sure that my voice was level. "I forgot that I have this meeting with Une . . ." I carefully placed the photos back in place. "So I'd better be going."

I turned around only to find the doctor standing less than a foot away from me with a big ass needle in his hand. Before I could make another move, he grabbed me and firmly placed a hand over my mouth, pushing me back so that I was trapped between him and the counter.

I kicked at him as best as I could, but my blows didn't seem to have any effect. His next move was lightning fast—with a doctor's precision he jabbed my arm and released the contents of the needle into my body.

Almost instantly I could feel myself slipping away, but I continued to struggle as best I could. Rankin just held me close and stroked my hair, and I could vaguely hear him whispering, "Shhh, shhh, it will all be over soon."

And it was.

In less than a minute I was out like a light and at the complete mercy of my obsessed psycho stalker.

Yeah, I know. Life's a bitch, ain't it?

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **whistles innocently No comment! Anyway, remember everyone, _after the next chapter, Zechs will finally make his appearance._ I promise. Click on my bio if you would like to join my mailing list and receive notification of updates!


	7. No Longer a Dream

**Author's Note:** This is the first chapter completed by my **new laptop**, which I have named Snarry 2! Why is it number 2? Well, I got Snarry 1 last Friday, and **a day and a half later** it totally crashed (I was so pissed) . . . so the next day I returned Snarry 1 and got Snarry 2. Everything is okay with this one . . . (crosses fingers). This means more updates, hopefully.

Sorry for the wait. But you guys are rewarded with an extra long chapter.

**xOxOx**

The first thought that came to my head when I returned to the land of the living was, _Oh man, Heero's **gonna** kill me._ My head was throbbing and even though they weren't open and my eyes were aching from the light that filtered through my eyelids, not to mention that fact that I was trapped in an unknown location with a man who was freakishly obsessed with me. All I could think about was how _stupid_ I'd been to go down to that office by myself.

I mean, I'd read and watched enough murder mysteries to know that it's _always_ the person you least expect, or the quiet ones, right? Shoulda seen this one coming.

Oh well. The milk had already been spilled, so . . .

Now to focus on getting free. I was lying on a bed, I could tell. A pretty comfortable one at that, maybe one of those expensive feather things or something, and my head was propped up by a pillow and some soft, warm blankets pulled up to my chest. Well! At least my stalker knew how to take care of me.

I stayed still and listened, keeping my breathing as even as possible. The room was quiet, absolutely quiet. Good. If the psycho doc wasn't around, I could use the unsupervised time to try and find a way out of this prison and back home. Slowly opening my eyes, I flexed my wrists.

What? No handcuffs, no rope, no _nothing_ holding me down to the bed?

I sat up quickly and rubbed my face. What about my legs?

Also free!

. . . And this guy was a _doctor_? What an idiot.

I kicked off the sheets and looked around, taking in every detail of the room carefully. It was pretty large, high ceilings, no windows, three doors, very clean, and the only other furniture besides the bed was a chest of drawers on the far wall.

Three doors. One of them _had _to be the way out.

I got off of the bed and—ohhh, cold floors! After hopping around on my toes for a while, I crossed the room as quietly as possible and reached for the doorknob to the first door, the one closest to me. Let's see what's behind door number one . . .

Nothing. Damn.

On to door number two. Tiptoeing over, I yanked it open. _Please be an exit . . ._

Oh hell! Ewww . . .

I covered my face with my hands. Just great. There was Peters with his mouth hanging open in a silent scream and his eyes bulging, hanging from the ceiling of the closet with a noose around his neck, a giant knife in his chest and a rather large dent in the side of his head.

Urk, talk about _overkill._

Sure, I didn't like the guy, but that's just—

"You weren't supposed to see that."

I froze in place as Dr. David Rankin came up behind me, invading my personal space to slam the closet door shut. Why hadn't I heard him come in? C'mon, Duo, deep breaths, deeeeep breaths.

"I . . . uh," I stammered, turning to face him. He was standing there looking quite normal in kaki pants and a blue and white striped shirt, not at all like the crazy murderer-slash-stalker that he was. "Umm . . . he's dead."

Well, _duh_. What a stupid thing to say.

"Yes. You told me that he was bothering you, and I took care of it," he said as if he were commenting on the day's forecast.

Great. Another guy was dead because of me. "That really wasn't necessary, I—"

"I was more than happy to do it for you." He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me close to him. His face got very close to mine as he whispered against my lips, "I'd do anything for you."

At this point my skin was seriously crawling. I removed myself from his grasp and took a huge step back until I was pressed against the closed door and said firmly, "I don't want you to hurt anyone else because of me. Okay?"

He was giving me a strange look, as if he couldn't believe what I'd just said. "As long as no one else hurts you."

Umm, okay. Not exactly the answer I'd been looking for, but I probably wouldn't be getting a better one. "Er, so . . ." I looked around the room once more, particularly at the exit that I hoped to be escaping through pretty soon. "Umm, where am I? What is this place?"

"This is my home," he said casually, eying me up and down.

Woah. Don't get any ideas, buddy! "Your home? Ah, in the city?"

"Of course not. That's the first place the police will look once they figure out what's happened."

Speaking of the cops . . . Ya know, it didn't sound like he was all too concerned with the fact that it would take the cops about two seconds to realize who'd taken me. I mean, the suck up intern would tell them that she led me to the infirmary, and the nurse would tell them that I'd gone straight back to the doc's office.

That bothered me. That bothered me a _lot_.

"Oh. Of _course_," I murmured suspiciously. It was never a good sign when a criminal didn't give a flying rat's ass about being caught. Those were the really _dangerous_ ones. I had to get out, and fast . . .

"This looks like a beautiful house," I said amicably with a sweet smile. "Maybe you could show me around?"

He studied me for a while, and I struggled to remain calm and to keep that damn smile on my face. If he took me around, I'd get a layout for the house, maybe get a glimpse of my surroundings, take note of any weapons he may have . . . All the better for formulating my Grand Escape. I couldn't just make a mad dash for it—I had to be sure that the doctor was incapacitated and unable to follow me as I ran away. I'd probably have only one chance, and I couldn't screw it up.

Rankin took something from behind his back—a gleaming pair of handcuffs. Erm, I'll admit to you that the first thing I thought of was him handcuffing me to that bed and having his wicked way with me, but instead, he slapped one of the cuffs around my right wrist and the other around his left. Whew! Much better than my original thought, but . . .

"I will show you around. It is also your house," he said, dragging me over to the exit. With his free hand he took a ring of many keys from his belt and unlocked the door, and I was smart enough to get a good look at which key he used. "But don't get too attached, because we won't be here long." Rankin gave me a significant look before taking me out into the hallway.

And for some reason, I got the feeling that he didn'tmean what I _thought_ he meant.

**xOxOx**

A cabin in the woods. That's where we were, a darn cabin in the darn woods. A nice cabin, by the way, all fancy and modern, shining hardwood floors throughout, pristine granite countertops in the kitchen . . . not exactly the home of a raving lunatic. Kind of reminded me of Q's place.

Then he led me down to the basement, which began to worry me a bit. As we walked down the wooden steps, I wondered what could be down there that I needed to—

Woah. WOAH! NO WAY!

Talk about _obsessive_.

"It took me years to complete, but finally . . ." Rankin trailed off, the pride evident in his voice.

As I walked further into the basement, I could only stare slack jawed and amazed at the furthest wall. It was covered—totally covered from the floor to the ceiling with pictures of _me_. The pictures were of various sizes, some clipped from newspapers or magazines, some taken with a camera, and a few close ups were blown up. "Y-y-years?" I managed to stumble out, still stunned.

"Yes." He stood there for a while, staring up at his _work of art_ (snort) in amazement or something, which gave me a chance to formulate a plan. Up near the ceiling there was a window, too small for me to climb out of, but that's not what I really what I had in mind. If only I could get that window open . . .

Then I spotted it. There were some floor to wall shelves filled with emergency supplies on the adjacent wall, and not too high up was a dusty looking quilt. Pretending to look at the different pictures, I scooted my way over to the shelves, dragging Rankin along with me.

"What a nice quilt. May I?" I asked quite innocently, but without waiting for an answer, I got onto the tips of my toes and yanked on the quilt, and just as I'd hoped, dust and lint escaped into the air. Instantly I doubled over coughing. "S-sorry!" I managed to squeak out.

"Its fine," Rankin said, sounding unfazed, just standing there as the dust floated around us.

"C-could you—" I paused to add some really good sounding fake coughs for effect. "The window, please?"

Before the request was even out of my mouth completely, the window was open and a stool was placed beneath it. I hopped onto the stool and stuck my head out of the window, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air.

And then I listened.

I grinned to myself as I heard the rushing of what sounded like cars on a busy highway . . . well, that _or_ a raging river. Which one? I could ask him—

Someone upstairs musta been on my side because just then a wailing car horn began to sound somewhere off in the distance. Yes! A highway was nearby, meaning that a gas station, convenience store or a rest stop would (hopefully) be somewhere nearby and in walking distance.

I hopped down and grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders. Rankin closed the window and dragged me back up to the room I'd originally been in, where the handcuffs were thankfully removed, which meant that I could actually put some space between myself and the freak.

And you better believe that _that _was the first thing I did once I was free. I quickly sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped the quilt tightly around my body, watching warily as the doctor went over to the chest of drawers and took out his ring of keys. From where I was sitting, I couldn't see which key he used to open the second drawer, but my mind was on something _else_ when I saw what he was removing from it.

A syringe and needle, along with a bottle of a clear liquid.

"What is that?" I asked, eyeing him cautiously as he proceeded to suck up some of the drug with the syringe.

"There are a few . . . final arrangements that I need to make. It will take several hours, and this is just something to calm you until I return," he replied, giving me a curious look. I must've had a strange look on my face because he said while looking slightly offended, "You think I'd hurt you?"

"I, well, I'm not too fond of drugs and all," I said quickly, watching him stare down at the needle. "I'm sure you know that during the war, a lot of drugs were used for torture . . ." I put on the best pained, angst-y face that I could muster, which turned out to be pretty good, I guess, because Rankin nodded once and shot the contents of the syringe harmlessly into the air.

Internally I let out a deep breath and smiled prettily. "Thanks."

The doctor nodded. "Very well. But the door will be locked tight, and trying to escape would be a waste of time."

"Of course."

The doctor returned to his drawer, and with his back turned I quickly reached up to feel my hair. Bingo! There were my trusty tools of escape safely hidden away in their usual place.

Now that I knew that my lock picks were at my side, I could come up with a better way of getting the hell out of this place. Once Rankin was gone, I'd give the psycho doc an hour to get as far away as possible before working on the door. When I was free of the room, if it was dark outside, I'd head down to the basement and grab a flashlight I'd spotted on the shelf and make my way towards the sound of the traffic. Unless there wasn't any. Darn. Well then I'd just have to—

Suddenly the bed dipped next to me and my planning was momentarily put to a halt as Rankin joined me on the bed. Protectively I pulled the quilt around my body tighter and leaned away from him. Behind his glasses, his gray eyes were shining with what was apparently lust and—

Then he grabbed the sides of my face and roughly kissed me.

This experience was decidedly _worse_ than finding Peter's body hanging in that closet, okay? Yuck! My skin was crawling and I _think _I was about to hurl right into the dude's mouth (which would've serve him right, anyway) but instead of puking, I grabbed Rankin's wrists and squeezed on them hard as I brought my knees up and rammed them into his chest.

His only response was to shove me down onto the bed and jab not only his tongue, but a _pill _(!) into my mouth. Removing his lips from mine, Rankin straddled my waist and covered my mouth with one of his hands and pinched my nose with the other.

I knew what he was doing—the only way I'd be able to breathe was if I swallowed the drug.

"Swallow the pill," he ordered, clamping down on my mouth and nose even harder. I tried to struggle against him, but for a thin guy, he was pretty strong, and my attempts to fight him back only made my need for air greater.

So I did the only thing I could do—I swallowed it and gave him a death glare that would've made Heero proud. "Get off me!" I demanded angrily as I tried to buck against his weight.

Rankin ignored my command and grabbed my chin, forcing open my jaw so that he could get a good look inside my mouth. I guess he was satisfied with what he saw, because then he let go of my face and patted my cheek. Rat bastard.

I was tempted to spit on him, but the law of gravity told me that _that_ idea wasn't a good one. So instead I grabbed the front of his shirt roughly and gave him a good jerk. "What did you just give me!"

Rankin looked unfazed. "A fast acting sedative."

I growled deep in my throat and gave him a dirty look. He only laughed softly and rolled over on the bed so that he was lying on his back, hugging me tightly to his chest so that I went with him. I felt Rankin's nose digging into the crown of my head, the warmth of his breath and the rumble of his chest as he spoke.

"I've watched you for years. I've seen you at your best and your worst, when you're happy, where you're sad, and when you're lonely . . ." He sighed almost euphorically into my hair. Damn, I knew that my shampoo smelled nice and all but . . .

"But by far, you are the most beautiful when you're filled with _rage_," he whispered in an . . . okay, I'll admit it, in a rather seductive voice. But this (thankfully) had no effect on me whatsoever because I was drugged half out of my mind, eyes drooping and mouth hanging open with a little trail of drool making its way down my face.

Not a pretty sight, I'm sure, even though at that moment, I was _full _of rage.

Rankin continued to speak. "Your eyes are stunning on their own, but when the look in them is fueled by fury, they _sparkle . . ._ Your body tightens . . ." At this his one hand gripped him hip tightly and the other began a leisurely roam up my shirt, fingers dancing across my skin.

A sense of dread filled my body then. I didn't like the sound of his voice, nor the way his hands were toughing me, straying to the waist band of my pants . . .

I let out an inaudible protest, one final word before I slipped out of consciousness.

**xOxOx**

I had no time to think about the hours I'd lost and what may have happened during them because when I woke up from my drugged stupor, I decided that _enough _was _enough_ and that I needed out. Warily and weakly I pushed away from the bed and stumbled over to the door that stood between me and freedom.

"All right, fucker," I grumbled, leaning against the wall adjacent to the door as I struggled to get by bearings straight. "You're gonna open if I have ta rip you ta shreds with my bare hands!"

Uh, that ripping-to-pieces thing would be plan B, because I had a hunch . . .

Yep! There they were.

I bent down and began to put my trusty lock picks to work. I jiggled, twisted and turned . . . but nothing. The lock wouldn't budge.

Fuck! FUCK!

I punched out at the door and kicked the chest of drawers, which rattled noisily . . .

Hmm . . . now _that_ was a thought.

I licked my lips and used my picks on the dresser's lock, hands shaking slightly from a sense of urgency that was tickling the back of my neck. I had no idea how long I'd been out, whether Rankin was somewhere inside the house or still out on his errands.

Success! The lock gave way and I yanked the drawer open, removing the bottle of sedative I'd seen Rankin use and a syringe . . . scratch that, _two_ syringes and needles. Carefully I filled them both to the max, replaced the bottle and closed the drawer. With one of my new _weapons _in each hand and each hand behind my back, I stood by the door and readied myself for a fight.

I'm not quite sure how long I stood there, my sense of time thrown severely out of whack by the drugs that'd been pumped into my system, but just as my legs felt like they were getting ready to turn to jelly I heard the sounds foot steps not too far away. I tensed as the sound came closer . . . closer . . . closer . . .

I took a deep breath as I heard the sound of a key slipping into the lock, the click as it turned and undid itself, the sound of Rankin turning the knob and pushing open the door . . .

He looked surprised to see me standing there, but stepped into the room and locked the door behind him, clipping the keys to his belt. Rankin turned back to me and before he could say a word, I slumped against this chest, feigning a weak moan.

He laughed softly and said, "I'm sorry, but the sedative was necessary—"

Necessary? I'd show him what was _necessary_!

I brought my right hand up behind his back slowly while Rankin was detracted with my incredible drugged-beauty and clenched one of the needles tightly in my fist. Another deep breath and . . .

Suddenly I shucked I brought the needle (rather roughly, I'll admit) into the side of his neck and relished in his outburst of surprise. Quickly I injected the drug into his body and pushed away from him.

He looked absolutely furious, and that's when he noticed the other needle in my hand. With a growl Rankin lunged for my left hand. I slipped out of his grasp and back away from him. All I had to do now was wait for him to succumb to the drug, and then I could make my get away.

Rankin stumbled over his own feet and leaned against the dresser for support. "You . . . how could you . . . why?"

"I don't want to be here. I want to go home." Simplified but true. At that moment I wanted nothing more to be back with Q and Tro at the mansion, in the jet tub with bubbly hot water whirling around my body and a damn fine guy feeding me grapes with his tongue. Okay, so maybe that last part wouldn't be happening anytime soon, but you get my drift.

"Your _home_ is with _me_ now!" he snarled. "After everything I've done for you . . . those people out there don't _appreciate _you! They're scared of you and what you can do! They take your sacrifice for granted! _They don't understand you!"_

Huh. And _this _guy did? Right.

Rankin took an unstable step forward, and I took one step back. Then he lunged for me again, this time getting me by my right shoulder and slamming me roughly into the wall. My head spun as stars shot up behind my eyes. There wasn't anytime to regain my focus, because the bastard was going for the other needle.

I couldn't let him have it. This was my one chance to escape.

We wrestled for it. I kicked and punched at him, and he attempted to shove my head into the wall. After minutes of fighting, I could feel the little bit of energy that I had draining. Out of desperation I brought out my knee, missing once, twice, three times before—contact!

Rankin grunted and grabbed my face with his free hand, clenching it tightly and pushing it to the side. "Don't make me hurt you, Duo! _Don't make me!_"

Blindly I brought down the needle and stumbled away as fast as I could, gasping for air as I leaned against the wall, still slightly unbalanced from the sedative.

Quick, ragged breaths were coming from Rankin, who was swaying from side to side and clutching at his face. I stared, and then realized exactly where the needle had made contact.

Directly into the guy's left eye. Eww!

And down he went, like a sack of potatoes onto the floor. I waited for a few seconds, watching him closely for any signs of life. Had I . . . killed him? Who could survive being injected with that much . . . er, stuff?

I cautiously bent over the man and felt for a pulse. There it was, weak and slow. He probably wouldn't live much longer.

I yanked the keys off of Rankin's belt and went for the door, but not before getting a bottle of the sedative. It was nighttime, I could see by looking out of the window in the living room, so first I made a stop down to the basement where I grabbed a couple of flash lights before hobbling up to the front door. To my frustration, there was a code box next to the door knob which I could probably figure out if I had the time, but I really didn't so . . .

Aha! I grabbed a stool from the kitchen and hurled it at the window next to the door. It shattered and out I crawled, grunting slightly as several shards of glass cut through my skin. I turned on one of the flashlights and stuck the other one in the waistband of my pants along with the bottle and followed a set of tire tracks to what I hoped would be the highway that I'd heard earlier.

I went as quickly as I could, tripping over logs and getting smacked in the face by tree branches. Yeah, _thank_ you Mother Nature. Finally, after what seemed like an eternal trek in the dark, I made it to the road, which was indeed a highway. I looked up and down it, hoping to find a gas station or something near by. There was nothing but a lonely stretch of road.

But up ahead a bit was a sign . . . could a town be in the area?

I quickly made my way up to the road sign and shined the flashlight on it.

**REST STOP**

**1 MILE**

Score! A rest stop! Fresh water, food, drinks and a phone. Everything I needed at that moment.

So I quickly did the one mile and was gasping for breath by the time I got to the rest stop. The parking lot was deserted, probably because the DAMN THING WAS GATED UP! Just my freaking luck!

But the lights were still on inside, and I'd come this far . . . I went up to the gate, shook and kicked at it a bit before I saw the pad lock on the side. My picks, which hadn't seen this much action since the war by the way, went to work, and I was able to open the gate in no time. I went inside and snapped the lock back on.—I felt a hell of a lot safer that way.

I made a bee line for the pay phone and quickly dialed 911, dropping to the floor like a pile of bricks. As it rang I checked my injuries. I had nothing too serous, just a couple of cuts from the glass which I began to dig out of my skin, my ankle was throbbing from a particularly nasty fall I'd taken back in the woods and my head was still swimming from being slammed against the wall. Other than that, I was a-okay!

"911, what's your emergency?" a machine like woman was saying on the other end.

"My name is Duo Maxwell and—" I didn't even have a chance to say anything else—the woman on the other end gasped loudly.

"Duo Maxwell? The one that went missing?"

"Um, yep. I—"

"Do you know where you are?" the woman demanded, and I could hear some mighty furious typing going on in the background.

"I'm in a rest stop somewhere, I don't know exactly . . ."

"Okay, I've traced your call. We've got emergency crews dispatched to your location now."

I let out a relieved sigh. I was saved. Just as long as Rankin didn't pop up out of no where and haul my ass back to the cabin, I would be fine.

"Do you have any injuries, Mr. Maxwell?"

"Nothing serious. Minor abrasions, sore ankle. I'm okay," I said, eying the soda machine next to me. I began to bang on it with the foot that wasn't hurt, hoping to rattle free something to drink, because my mouth still felt like it was full of cotton balls.

"What's that noise?" the woman demanded quickly.

"Just trying to free something from one of these machines. I'm putting down the phone now." I set the phone on the floor and eyed the soda machine. It had a glass front, which would make this a lot easier. I grabbed the receiver on the other pay phone and banged it against the glass until it gave way and helped myself to a few bottles of Mountain Dew.

"Okay, I'm back," I said into the phone as I guzzled down one of the cold drinks. Ahh . . .

"Please don't step away from the phone again, Mr. Maxwell," the 911 lady said sternly.

"Sure thing."

She and I chatted for about twenty five minutes about various subjects including Heero and my (nonexistent) romantic relationship with Trowa (turns out she had a five year subscription to my fan club website) before I heard the wailing of sirens coming my way.

"Well, it was nice talkin ta ya, Sandra," I said as the sirens got closer. "You saved my butt."

She laughed. "My pleasure, Mr. Maxwell. Please do all of your fans a favor and stay out of trouble for a while, okay?"

"Will do." By now the cop cars had pulled into the parking lot and uniformed officers were pouring out of them, surrounding the place. "Bye. Thanks again."

I got up from the floor and went over to the gate, where several cops were gathering. I noticed one in particular—my old friend Detective Benito, who was currently picking the lock on the gate.

"Hello, Detective," I said with a friendly smile, relieved to see someone familiar.

He glanced up at me before returning to his work. "Are you hurt?"

"Not really. Give me that." I pushed his hands out of the way and jiggled the picks. The lock fell open in a second and the cops that were standing around began to laugh. "Hey, you're looking at the master here!"

The gate was pushed back and the cops came storming in, securing the perimeter. Benito came up to me and gave looked me over. I imagine that I looked particularly scruffy at that moment, twigs, dirt and other various woodsy muck stuck all over me, but I put on the best smile I could muster anyway.

"Bring a stretcher over here!" Benito called to some paramedics who were gapping in our direction, presumably at me. They snapped into action at his command and grabbed a stretcher out of the back of the ambulance and began wheeling it over to us.

"I don't need a stretcher," I said as it stopped next to me.

Benito didn't look too happy at that. "Get on the damn stretcher."

"No. I'm fine, really, just a couple of scrapes and—"

Benito scooped me up in his arms and plopped me down onto the stretcher. "Your friend Quatre Winner has been on the department's ass ever since you disappeared three days ago—"

Three days?

"—and if he hears that we didn't put you into the back of an ambulance to have you checked out I'm sure there will be even _more_ hell to pay," Benito concluded as he climbed into the back of the ambulance with me. As the ambulance pulled away from the rest stop, Benito pulled a voice recorder and a pad from his pocket. "Tell me what the _hell_ happened."

**xOxOx**

Benito stayed with me when I went into the emergency room to have my wounds taken care of. I was bandaged up pretty quickly as there were no serious injuries, as I'd said a million times, and the doctor assured me that the sedative wouldn't have any lasting effect on me.

"We're not really sure what it is, though," the doctor said as he looked at the clipboard in his hands. "Nothing like it has been approved by the Drug Administration, but from our preliminary analysis of it, it doesn't seem to be harmful. More work will have to be done on it to determine the drug's exact contents."

I scratched at one of my bandages and blushed as the doctor gave me a disapproving glare. "Not harmful? I pumped about two syringes full of that stuff into Rankin's system. He should be dead, right?"

The doctor nodded. "I meant, harmless in small doses, but that amount . . . probably fatal. More than likely fatal."

Well. I was torn between relief and sickness. It had been a while since I'd last killed a man, but at least the entire stalker thing was over. I relaxed and smiled slightly. "Good. Now I can go home, right?"

Benito and the doctor shared a look.

"Right?" I asked a little harshly. I didn't like that sneaky little glance.

"Mr. Maxwell," the doctor started gently. "I would like to do another . . . examination on you."

Something wasn't right with the man's tone. "What _kind_ of examination?"

"A rape examination."

I stiffened up and blushed furiously. "I wasn't raped."

"Duo," Detective Benito said, stepping forward to take my hand. "You told me that there were several periods where you blacked out for long periods of time, and you blacked out once while Rankin was . . . touching you. I think it would be best if you let the doctor do the exam."

"I wasn't raped!" I screamed almost hysterically. "Don't you think I would _know_ whether or not I'd been raped!"

"Mr. Maxwell, sometimes—"

"No," I said firmly. "No. I want to go home, take a shower and go to sleep. He didn't rape me, I don't want some guy I don't even know poking around down there to confirm something that I already know, no, no, no!"

The doctor sighed in defeat and said to the detective, "I can't make him do anything that he doesn't want to do."

Benito clenched my hand in his. "Alright Duo, if you'd rather not."

"Yeah, I'd rather _not_. Can I go home now?" I stared down at the floor.

Detective Benito personally drove me back to Quatre's mansion, and the ride back was silent. I was still a little upset about the suggestion of rape. I mean, I _would_ know about it if it had happened to me, right? And even if Rankin _had _done that, would I really want to know? Would I really want to know that my first time had been like _that_?

But did I really _not_ want to know? Did I want to have this question, the uncertainty eating away at me for the rest of my life?

I could see the turnoff to Quatre's neighborhood coming up ahead. I could let Benito turn and drop me off at Quatre's or I could—

"Can you take me to the hospital? I think I'd like to have that examination done."

**xOxOx**

I'm not even going to talk about the damn examination, alright? Let's just say that it was totally embarrassing and it proved what I'd though all along. That was aright I guess, because now I could go back to my life with a clear mind.

It was about four in the morning when I finally arrived at Q's place, and all of the guys were standing out on the front porch waiting for me. I'd barely gotten out of the car when Quatre came _flying_ at me and wrapped me up in a bear hug. He was wailing loud enough to wake the neighbors five miles down the road, I swear.

"Why don't we move inside?" Benito asked with a smile.

Quatre attached himself to my side as we went into the house. The six of gathered into the living room where I was tossed down onto the couch and asked by Quatre, "Can I get you anything? Sprite? Mountain Dew? We have some doughnuts, the ones that you like—"

Trowa pulled Q into a chair, and I gave him a thankful smile. "Thanks, Q, but I'm fine. Tired, but fine."

"I'm sorry, Duo." That was Wufei, which surprised the hell out of me. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days . . . I looked around at my friends. In fact, it looked as if _none _of them had.

"For what?" I asked.

"This is all my fault. If I had gone down there with you like I should have—"

I shook my head. "Look, its no one's fault, okay? No one but Rankin's. I'm going up to bed, Detective Benito can fill you guys in on what happened." I was halfway up the stairs before I turned and stared the detective in the eye. "Just . . . only what is necessary, okay?"

I knew that _he _knew what I meant. Er . . . does that make sense? I think so.

I didn't want anyone to know about that stupid exam.

Once inside my room I yanked open my dresser and pulled out some clean night clothes and a fresh pair of boxers and headed for the shower. I turned the water on full blast and at the highest temperature. After undressing I dug around for a fresh bar of soap and a clean rag. Well, there was a rag and only that girly body wash stuff Quatre likes to use. It would have to do.

I squirted a mound of the stuff onto the rag and got underneath the spray of water, hissing softly as the steamy hot water hit my skin. The rag roughly met my skin as I scrubbed vigorously at my body. All I could think of was that doctor prodding at me, Rankin kissing me, touching me . . .

A broken sob left my throat as I squirted more of the soap onto the rag.

I had a lot to wash away.

**xOxOx**

I almost slept the day away. I woke up at about six in the afternoon to the sound of the doorbell ringing. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom to splash a little water onto my face before heading downstairs. Trowa was standing at the door, handing a pizza guy some cash and Quatre was setting the table in the kitchen.

"Duo, you're finally awake!" Quatre exclaimed, giving me a big smile. "We just ordered dinner, come sit down."

I sat at the kitchen table and watched as Quatre sat two cans of Mountain Dew in front of me and Trowa slap two giant slices of pepperoni and sausage pizza on my plate. They looked at me with laughter in their eyes when my stomach growled loudly.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "I don't know how long it's been since I last ate."

"Eat up then!" Quatre urged.

We ate in silence for a little while before Quatre couldn't hold back whatever he'd wanted to say since I got back.

"Duo, I want to apologize," Quatre said nervously.

I sighed. First Wufei and now Quatre. "It is not your fault! And besides, I'm fine—"

"No, it's not about that. I . . . I felt terrible when you came up missing and I felt as if I'd never really apologize properly for our stupid argument over Trowa earlier," Quatre rushed out, giving me an earnest look.

I gapped at him. "W-what? Look, I told you—"

"And I kept thinking about how awful it would be if . . . if . . . if something were to _happen_ to you and you still thought that I hated you for that Trowa thing and—"

I laughed. "Quatre, you're totally forgiven! Just forget about it, okay?"

He looked sheepish. "Okay. No more fighting ever again. I'm glad to have you back."

I nibbled on a bit of crust and grinned. "I'm glad to be back."

"_I'm_ glad that this whole stalker business is over," Trowa murmured, his one visible eye staring me down. It made me nervous. What did _he_ want?

"So am I," I said, avoiding his gaze. "Now maybe Heero will back up off my ass."

Quatre made a strange strangled sound. "Oh, if only you could've seen Heero when he found out that you were gone!"

I leaned forward anxiously. "Really? What happened?"

"We were up in Une's office and Wufei had gone down to the infirmary to get you," Quatre said eyes wide and shiny with mirth. "And when Wufei returned without you, looking very pale and very scared, Heero knew immediately what had happened."

"He flipped," Trowa added with a wince.

"_The desk_," Quatre concluded rather dramatically.

I looked from Tro to Q. "Wait, what? He flipped the desk? Une's HUMONGEOUS monster of an oak desk!"

Quatre nodded. "He flipped the damn desk up into the air and now there's this big hole in the ceiling. Then e went tearing out of the office and Une had to alert the doctors and nurses in the infirmary to watch out for him. Luckily, one of them was armed with one of the special Super Heavy Duty Heero-darts and they were able to sedate him."

Ohh, the Heero-darts. The only ones strong enough to stop a raging Heero Yuy, specially formulated for Heero, commissioned by Une herself.

"Wow . . . and I _missed_ that! Damn."

Quatre nodded sadly. "It was a pretty scary time. We really weren't sure what Rankin wanted to do with you."

"Yeah, I never figured that one out, either." Other than get freaky with me, I really had no idea what he'd been planning. "But whatever, because he's gone."

I really should have knocked on wood then. Me and my big mouth.

The doorbell rang and Quatre excused himself from the table to answer it. Trowa was still staring at me strangely with that inquisitive eye of his.

"What?" I demanded. "Do I have cheese hanging out of my nose or something?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure you're okay," he said, giving me a hard look.

"I'm fine."

"Did he touch you?"

My face turned bright red, I'm sure. Why on earth did everyone want to know that? Freaks. "No! Jeeze, he did not rape me, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good."

I glared down at the remainder of my pizza, embarrassed as hell. I didn't want to talk about anything that had happened back in that cabin, I just wanted to forget and get back to my life full of shopping and eating out and gossiping with my best friend while we were supposed to be doing work and getting paid pretty well for it.

"Duo, someone is here for you," Quatre said as he came into the kitchen with Detective Benito. He looked a little concerned, and to be honest, so was I. Even though he was one good looking dude, I was hoping that I wouldn't be seeing him any time soon.

"Bad news, detective?" I asked, repairing myself mentally for whatever he was about to say. I could tell that something was up by the strained look on his face.

"I'm afraid so," Benito said, sitting next to me. "We went back to the cabin, Duo. We didn't find Rankin."

Wait, I didn't hear him correctly, right? They hadn't found Rankin? "Impossible!" I exclaimed with a fake smile. "I shot the guy up with so much of that sedative that he should've been asleep. Permanently."

"I know. But his body wasn't there. We searched the entire house and everything within a ten mile radius," Benito said, and I could tell by the look of his face that he was just as perplexed as I was.

"So he could still be out there somewhere, and he could come back for Duo," Trowa said morbidly.

"I'm afraid so. No one is really sure where he could've gone, especially with that much of the sedative in his system. But we've put all of the hospitals in the area on alert," the detective said. "Being stabbed in the eye needs medical attention, and it doesn't seem likely that he can handle that himself."

Quatre immediately got up and began checking that the windows and doors were secure. Trowa went over to the phone, presumably to alert Heero and Wufei, leaving me sitting at the table in a daze.

"Duo, you might want to be even more careful than before," Benito was saying seriously. "He might be mad that you attacked him, betrayed him."

I nodded dumbly. The last thing I wanted was for Rankin to get his hands on me again, because now he probably wanted me dead for escaping. The fear raced up my spine and made my stomach lurch dangerously.

Benito looked very concerned. "Are you okay? Your face . . . turned a little green just then." When I didn't answer, he added, "I just bought these shoes, alligator skin, and if you're gonna hurl, well, I'll ask you to turn your head the other way."

I laughed. "No I won't _hurl_. I'm just a little unnerved," I admitted.

"I know. If there's anything I can do personally . . ."

I looked up at him, straight into his eyes and saw something in them. "Can you stay the night?"

**xOxOx**

Forty-five minutes later I was sitting on the toilet seat cover in my bathroom, watching as Detective Benito brushed his teeth in front of the mirror, shirtless (!) and slightly glistening from a recent shower. Damn good sight, let me tell you.

"Quatre's bringing up a cot," I said stupidly, stupidly because I'm sure that I'd already said that at _least_ three times before.

He sent me an amused look through the mirror and spat. "Oh? Thanks for telling me . . . again."

I blushed. "Sorry. I'm just . . ."

"It's alright." He made a gesture for me to follow him, and I did as we went into the bedroom and sat on the end of the bed together.

I stared at the bedroom door. What was taking Quatre so long? I glanced up at the detective, who was smiling down at me with a glint in his eye. "What?" I asked almost defensively.

"Nothing."

Huh. Not likely. I tugged at the end of my t-shirt. "Say . . . what the hell is your first name anyway?"

He laughed. "Alex, its Alex. Hell, you might as well call me by my first name from now on, since we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other."

I grinned and looked up at him. "Yeah, probably."

We smiled at each other for a while, and then I saw that _thing _in his eyes again. I knew what he was going to do, and I let him do it anyway.

He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to mine, his arms snaking around my waist to pull me close. I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed my body against his. We kissed furiously, almost violently, and I had pushed him back against the bed before he removed his lips from mine.

"Duo, stop," he said sternly.

My eyes flew open and I said as I gasped for breath, "What? What's wrong?"

The concern in his eyes was obvious. "I don't think we should continue."

Had I mistaken what I'd seen in his eyes? My face caught on fire with humiliation. I slid away from him and hugged my knees to my chest. "Okay. Fine. I understand."

" . . . No, I don't think you do. I know why you really invited me to stay the night, and why you let me kiss you."

"Because I wanted you to!"

Alex shook his head and turned my face so that I was facing him. "No, you didn't."

"What makes you think that you can tell me what I do and do not want?"

"Your face was scrunched up so hard and your eyes were squeezed shut so tightly that you looked like some kind of virgin sacrifice," he said rather bluntly.

Okay, ouch.

"You _are_ a virgin, aren't you," Alex stated. That wasn't a question.

"Oh, so my inexperience was _that_ obvious?" I asked defensively.

" . . . I don't think you wanted me to sleep with me because you like me."

"But I _do _like you," I protested, my face still red.

"I know. But . . . I can see it in your face. You're scared. You're scared that Rankin could still be alive, still be after you, and you're afraid that he'll . . . _rape_ you before you have a chance to be with anyone else."

Well. I guess he wasn't a detective for nothin'.

My stomach seemed to drop at that moment. Oh, God he was right. I didn't want that bastard Rankin to be my first, I didn't want that to be . . . How fucking _embarrassing_. I buried my face in my hands and struggled to keep back the tears of self-pity and frustration.

How could I face this man, knowing what I had been about to do? That I had been about to use him and his affection for me to calm my own fears?

"I'm so sorry," I mumbled into my palms.

I felt his hand on my back as it rubbed up and down and in circles in a soothing manner. His voice was soft and kind as he spoke. "Don't be. I understand. What you've been through in these past couple of days must have been hell."

I snorted and gave him a shaky smile. "Still, there's no excuse. You know, you're one great dude. Any other guy in your position probably woulda gone ahead and done it, you know? But you . . . you stopped. Thank you."

"Yeah, well, we both would've regretted it in the morning."

I nodded. Thankfully, I was spared from saying anything else because there was a knock on the door. I jumped up and threw it open, and Quatre and Trowa came in with a cot underneath their arms.

"Hi there, how is everything?" Quatre asked cheerfully as he glanced between me and Alex, I guess picking up on the tension in the room. The cot was placed onto the floor and a pillow and sheets were tossed onto it, and Quatre continued to look at us strangely.

I smiled artificially. "Just fine. I'm tired though."

Trowa looked a little worried. "Tired? You slept all day. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just . . . tired." That was all I said. Hopefully the little . . . mishap between me and Alex could stay between us. "So, we'll just set the cot up and go to bed . . ."

Quatre gave us one last look before leaving, dragging Trowa, who seemed bent on figuring out what was wrong, out of the room.

Wordlessly we set up the cot and settled down in our respective beds. I turned out the light and tried my best to go to sleep. Surprisingly, sleep came easy, and before I knew it, I was lost to the world.

**xOxOx**

I woke up the next morning to someone shaking my shoulder gently. "Huzzat?" I mumbled, forcing my eyes open.

The detective—Alex, after what had happened last night, was leaning over me, smiling slightly. "You look like a baby when you sleep. Very peaceful."

I blushed and turned to hide my face in my pillow.

"I have to go. I'll call you if there are any developments. And you can call me if you need anything."

"Okay. Bye . . ."

Almost immediately after Alex was gone, Quatre came barreling into the room and tossed himself down onto the bed. He yanked the blankets away from me and grabbed my pillow from beneath my head. "Okay, tell me what happened!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Nothing _happened._" I sat up warily and stretched.

"So you two _weren't_ looking strange when I came into the room last night?" Quatre asked slyly. "I saw your lips. They were PUFFY! They _screamed_ 'I've just been kissed.' I know, I've seen it before," he concluded in a know-it-all manner.

I sniggered and gave him a sideways look. "Yeah, on your own lips. Look, we kissed but that's about it! Nothing else happened."

"So . . . are you two going to go anywhere with it?" Quatre asked eagerly. The hopefulness in his face and voice was hard to take, knowing that I would have to tell him how I felt about my weird relationship with Alex.

"No. I don't think so." Not after last night, I couldn't . . . I wouldn't be able to. How the hell was I suppose to face him now? "But you know what? That's okay. There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

" . . . I guess. Too bad, because he's really cute and nice." Quatre hit me in the back with the pillow. "Now get your lazy butt up, Une wants to see us pronto."

"Oh, all of us this time? What did she want before?" I wondered.

"She wanted to talk to us about putting a guy on you . . . like a body guard or something," Quatre replied with a shake of his head. "I'm assuming that she wants to finish our discussion."

I made a face as I shuffled through the clothes in my closet. "A body guard? I don't need one, that's fucking ridiculous."

"I think that you're going to get one whether you like it or not. Hurry up, Une sounded pissed when I talked to her earlier."

Eep! Better hurry. I dressed quickly and grabbed a Mountain Dew and a doughnut from the kitchen before piling into the SUV with Tro and Q. Once we got to the Preventers headquarters, we joined up with Heero and Wufei outside of Une's conference room, where we took one giant collective breath before entering.

Une was sitting behind long desk, and she didn't look too pleased to see us. "Sit," she barked out. We all began to drop our behinds into a chair. "No! Duo I want you right here," she said, pointing to the second chair to her left. "The rest of you over there."

The others sat on the opposite side of the table facing Une. They looked very serious, and a little afraid. I don't think I had anything to worry about, though, since I was on _this _side . . . I sat back and prepared for the show. Hey, after the last couple of days, I _deserved_ a damn good show.

"I cannot say how _disappointed _I am in the four of you," she began, giving Heero, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre each a dark look. "You're Gundam pilots, I thought that you all could handle a stalker, I thought that you could keep an eye on Duo, keep him out of trouble, but no! You four look away for a second and he's gone!"

Heero bristled, as if he wanted to say something, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"So I've taken the liberty of brining . . . ahem, someone _else_ in for the job, since Rankin is still out there and all of _you_ can't seem to handle this yourselves."

At this Heero really _did _say something. "Wait a minute, Une! I can do this. I can watch after Duo."

"How? You have work to do here, Yuy. Can you really do that and watch Duo at the same time?" Une asked, giving him a glare. Before he could say anything, she said sharply, "No, I didn't think so."

"But—"

"No buts! Besides, this . . . individual is already on his way. In fact, he should be here any moment now," Une said, glancing down at her watch.

Trowa snorted. "He's late. He's late and you think he'll be suitable for the job?"

Just then, in a super-dramatic fashion the door opened and—holy f-ing shit! My Dream Man—Zechs Peacecraft, Milliardo Merquise, WHATEVER—in the flesh stepped into the room, tall, broad shouldered and drop dead sexy, dressed in a sharp black suit, dark sunglasses and shiny black leather shoes. And when he took off those shades it was like I was seeing things in slow motion, the flick of his wrist as he took them off of his face, the shake of his head and the way he opened his eyes.

Wow.

Zech's icy blue eyes scanned the room before steeling on Une. "Sorry I'm late."

Suddenly an _absolutely fantastic _realization hit me. _This_ man was going to be my body guard, _this_ man would be at my side until Rankin was caught.

You know what?

Suddenly having a raving madman on the loose didn't sound like such a bad idea after all.

**xOxOx**

Author's Note: (snickers) There you go, Zechs has finally joined the picture. Despite that, I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter, specially the part with Benito. Give me some feedback.


	8. My Kind of Guy

Author's Note: Wow! Thanks for the support and all of the reviews for the last chapter. Glad you all liked the Benito thing, which I had planned for a very long time. I have a lot of interesting things planned for this story . . .

**xOxOx**

Okay Duo, get it together! Sit up straight, smile, try to look intelligent and wipe away that bit of drool hanging out of the corner of your mouth! Much better.

You know what they say about first impressions . . .

Zechs/Milliardo came further into the room, glancing around at each person sitting at the table, and I pretended that his eyes lingered on me for a bit longer than appropriate because hey, a guy can dream, right? Right.

Well, apparently Heero had put two and two together, because in an instant he was out of his seat and growling dangerously at Une and Zechs/Milliardo. "No! Absolutely NOT! He will not—"

"Heero!" Une snapped, giving him a dirty and evil look. "Sit down this minute!"

Heero hovered for a minute, torn between continuing his protest and obeying Une's command, but he decided to sit once Wufei tugged the back of his shirt. Whew! Close one. I vaguely wondered whether or not this conference table was too heavy for Heero to toss into the air . . . maybe it was bolted down?

"Zechs, please," Une said cordially, giving the man a friendly smile that I'd never seen her give anyone else before. "Take a seat."

Take a seat? I looked around. Take a SEAT? Holy crap, the only empty seat was between me and Une . . . Eep!

Zechs (I guess that's what he goes by) cautiously took his seat, and I was awestruck. This man had such a presence about him . . . it's hard to explain, but it was if I could feel his strength, power, and influence radiating from him, and it was something else, let me tell you. I shifted nervously in my seat as I snuck little glances at him out of the corner of my eye, hoping that he wouldn't notice.

"Zechs doesn't know why he's here yet," Une said calmly, aware that on the other side of the table, Heero was breathing like a raging bull. "And now it is time to fill him in. Zechs, I need your expertise as a bodyguard."

Zechs sat back in his seat and eyed the men on the other side of the table. "Guarding which one? Mr. Winner?"

I cleared my throat. "Ahem, ahh, no. That would be me."

And then he turned to me and _looked _at me, as if he'd just noticed that I was in the room. His eyes scanned my face and seemed to take all of me in, committing every bit of my appearance to memory.

"Pilot 02," Zechs murmured, "Duo Maxwell. I don't believe we've met face to face."

"Nope." Never had the _pleasure_, I wanted to add, but that would've sounded totally desperate, and I wasn't _totally _desperate. Honestly.

I grinned and stuck out my hand for him to shake, which he took in his own after a moment of hesitation. His hand was quite big, and I began to wonder if what they said about _shoe size _also applied to hands. Hmm.

Heero resumed growling, and I quickly pulled my hand out of Zech's grasp. His face was just _too _nice for Heero to jack up in a fit of rage.

"Une, I don't think that this is such a good idea."

Not a _good _idea? What! Who said that! TROWA? That traitor!

I looked to Quatre for support, but he looked just as disturbed by the whole idea. "I have to agree with Trowa."

Wufei nodded, and Heero just snarled.

Une wasn't having any of that, though. "You four blew your chance, I told you that already! Zechs is good, he's kept Relena alive this long, and we all know that she has a penchant for getting herself into sticky situations. Put the past behind you," Une ordered us all, giving each man in the room, including Zechs, a stern look. "The past is just that—the past. Zechs is the best in the business, and I'm not willing to lose Duo to some _nut job_ just because the four of you can't get your heads out of your asses!"

Ouch. Une's voice had gone up quite considerably since the beginning of her spiel, and now she was just yelling.

Heero opened his mouth to protest but Une cut him off. "That's the final word, Heero. You caused considerable damage to my office when you flipped that desk—" Quatre snickered and received a nasty look from the boss-lady. "—and you'll have to work extra hours to pay for it. You cannot look after Duo yourself. I want him on this job."

"Why? What's in it for you?' Wufei asked stiffly. "You know very well that any of us could do the job, but you don't want _him_ to do it. Why?"

Wow. When Wufei dared to question his superior like that, it had to mean that something else was indeed going on under the surface. And it made me wonder . . . hell, Une had admitted to me before that none of us really did anything important around the office, so Heero, Trowa or any of the others could've been placed on Duo-duty.

"Don't question me, Chang. I said that Zechs is Duo's bodyguard, and I meant it." Une slid a manila folder over to Zechs. "The case information is in there. Read it whenever you get the chance, and I'm sure that one of the boys will be willing to fill you in. Now get out of here."

Hesitantly we got out of our seats and went into the hallway, where the atmosphere was no better than what it had been in the conference room. Zechs didn't seem fazed by the daggers that my pals were shooting at him, but I was. Une was right, this guy was _good_ (and I don't just mean good looking). Right up there with Mr. Perfect Solider Heero Yuy.

"All right guys, cut it out," I interjected. "Quit giving him the death stares. I need him to stay out of Rankin's hands, okay? The last time was _not _fun." Huh, the understatement of the year.

Quatre sighed. "Duo is right. Our main focus should be keeping him safe. We should put all of our . . . _issues_ aside for the sake of making sure our friend is safe." He seemed to be directing most of this towards Heero, who was visibly tense, with his fists balled up at his side and a furious look on his face.

Trowa didn't look happy, but nodded. "Let's go to the mansion, and we can work all of this out there."

Wordlessly we all piled into an elevator, and much to my dismay, Heero yanked me into a corner, as far away from Zechs as possible. He kept a firm grip on my upper arm, and once we reached the parking deck level, he practically dragged me out and began making his way over to his car.

An equally firm hand on my other arm stopped Heero. "He rides with me," Zechs said coolly.

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Like hell he does. I don't trust you, no matter what Une says."

Uh oh, looks like it was time for a showdown of the titans, round one! Go!

Zechs let go of my arm and stepped into Heero's . . . er, _personal _space and said in an almost dangerous fashion, "I don't really care what you think. Une put me on this job. I'm his bodyguard, and he is not to leave my sight. If you have problems with that, you know who to talk to."

"Heero, let Duo go," Trowa said.

After giving Zechs a very nasty and very scare look, Heero roughly released me. He kept his eyes on Zechs and said to Trowa, "I will meet you at your place." He stalked off towards his car, and Wufei quickly followed after him.

Quatre sent me a concerned look and went with Trowa to their SUV. I followed Zechs through the parking lot, all the while wondering what a prince would drive . . .

Holy shit! No way!

Zechs was unlocking the door to a super-rare sports vehicle, sleek and black and shiny. Wow. In amazement I went over to the passenger side and peered in, careful not to touch _anything_. The car just _oozed_ wealth and sophistication. I would be riding in _this_?

"Get in," Zechs said, eying me with what I thought was a hint of amusement.

Anxiously I threw open the door and slid in. I stroked the leather seat as my new bodyguard started up the car.

"Seat belt," he ordered.

Once I was safely secured, Zechs revved up the car and sped out of the parking deck. I could barely mumble out directions to Zechs because I was so preoccupied with the fact that this car ran like a dream—it stopped on a dime, absorbed the shock of the pothole filled city streets, and when it turned a corner as tight as a glove, I could help but moan, "Oh God."

We stopped at a red light and I casually began rubbing the leather again and sighing. Then, for the first time since he'd started the car, Zechs spoke.

"Stop that."

I snapped out of my high. "Stop what?"

"Stop having an orgasm in my car. You'll ruin the leather."

My face seemed to catch on fire as I glared up at the man, whose face was absolutely straight, although I think I saw his lips twitch a bit. "I am _not _having an orgasm in your car."

"Oh? I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken." The light turned green and we sped off again. "But you can't blame me; you had your head thrown back and you were moaning and rubbing the leather like . . ."

Oh, c'mon. He _had _to be exaggerating.

"Like what?' I dared him, sticking my chin into the air.

He glanced over at me momentarily before returning his eyes to the road. "Like you were having an orgasm, of course."

" . . . I can't believe I'm talking to you about this," I mumbled. And that was the truth. Who the hell talks about sex with someone they just met a few hours ago? "Besides," I added with a grin, "I'm not an exhibitionist. If that's what you like, then you need to talk to Heero."

That got a snicker out of him, and I settled back into my seat, making sure that I kept myself from rubbing anything in the car.

Zechs and I arrived at the mansion first. We got out, and Zechs went to open his trunk to remove his luggage,.

"I am assuming that you also live here," Zechs said as he tossed a duffle bag over his shoulder.

"Yep, for now at least. I didn't feel too safe staying by myself with all that's been going on." I took my copy of the key to the mansion out of my pocket and went up to the porch. I unlocked the door an invited Zechs inside. "Welcome to the mansion/fortress! State of the art security system, twenty-something rooms and a bathroom in almost every room, Olympic size swimming pool, two tennis courts that no one uses . . . everything you could ever want."

"A house this size makes security even more complicated." Zechs sat his bags on the floor.

"Of course. But like I said, Q made sure that this place is equipped with the best—" The sound of heavy, angry sounding footsteps put me on alert. "Oh boy, that must be Heero."

Sure enough Heero came barging into the house with Wufei, Quatre and Trowa on his heels. "Hiya," I said cheerful, ignoring the twitching vein on Heero's forehead. "So, what next?"

"I need to review the case file," Zechs said, "and then I want to take a look around the house and evaluate the security system. Tomorrow I will need to look around the property."

"Um, okay," Quatre replied and immediately switched to host-mode. "Let's go sit in the living room, all of us, and we'll fill in any holes and answer any questions that you may have."

The atmosphere in the living room was just terrible, but it didn't seem to phase Zechs one bit. I had to hand it to him, he was one cool guy with the way that he kept his composure despite all of the evil looks that the others were sending him. I sat in the middle of the floor in between the couch on which Wufei, Q, Tro and Heero sat and the loveseat that Zechs sat on, just in case someone decided to take a flying leap at my new bodyguard.

Zechs opened the manila folder containing my case file and began to read. "Mr. Maxwell—"

"It's Duo. I'm too young and good looking to be a Mr. Maxwell," I said pleasantly.

" . . . Okay, Duo, why don't you tell me what's been going on?"

"Well, it started out very innocently, with smelly roses being delivered to the Preventers office just about every day . . ." In about fifteen minutes I summed up the Rankin business, and once in a while the others would chime in to add something.

"Have you handled a case like this before . . . er, Mr. Merquise?" I asked politely, knowing that the others would also want to know that bit of info.

"Relena, just like the five of you, is prone to attracting many fanatics for the obvious reasons," Zechs said in a very business-like manner. "I've had to . . . _persuade_ some of them that pursing their interest in her would not be the best idea. It worked quite effectively." He closed the manila folder and glanced at me briefly. "And you can call me Zechs. After all, we will be very close until this is solved."

Very close? I liked the sound of that . . .

I guess Heero didn't, though, because he got to his feet, the scowl on his face growing nastier. "What exactly do you mean by very close?"

Zechs looked offended. "I'm a professional, Mr. Yuy. Don't ever suggest otherwise."

"It's just," Trowa began slowly, giving Zechs a level look, "that Duo is very important to us. If any harm were to come to him because of something that _you've _done—"

I got to my feet and gave everyone a friendly grin. "Okay! Well, how about we show Zechs around the house, huh? Then afterwards we can go out and get something to eat for lunch because I'm _starved_, and then we can watch some movies and pig out on popcorn or something so let's get to it!" I marched into the foyer and waited patiently for the others to join me.

"Well, it's pretty obvious that this is the foyer, and you've already seen the living room—" I was cut off when Quatre elbowed me in the stomach.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" he asked playfully, trying to lighten the mood I guess. "This is _my_ house, all right?"

"But I'm here almost all of the time these days, so I practically live here too. Besides, this place is so big that if I let _you _do the talking, we'll be bored out of our minds by the time we're done!" I cleared my throat. "Like I was saying, you've seen the living room, and right through here is the kitchen . . ."

We moved into the kitchen where Zechs went to work examining the windows and the locks on the door that led out to the backyard as I continued to talk. "I don't know why Quatre even has a stove—we don't really use it. The phone is our just about the only thing we use, because it lets us get in contact with some of our closest friends and some of our favorite people in the world—the delivery guys. Seriously, they know us by name."

We went to the back of the house where there were some bedrooms, sitting rooms, studies and a library. Then it was up the stairs where I took him to each and every room, and when we stopped outside of the door to my room, I frantically tried to remember how I'd left it that morning. Were there pairs of dirty underwear, stinky old socks and other pieces of already-worn clothes on the floor? Was my porno collection securely hidden?

Wufei noticed my hesitation and snickered. "Got something in there that you don't want us to see, Duo?"

I saw one of Zech's slim eyebrows go up slightly, and I blushed. "Heck no! C'mon in!" I opened the door and was relieved to find the only things that were messed up were the bed and the cot that Alex had spent the night on.

"Okay, and now we've reached the best room in the entire house! Mine! This is where the beautiful, smart—" I glared at Wufei when he snorted. "SMART, clever and friendly Duo Maxwell lays his head every night. Behold the splendor, the wonder, the—"

"Duo," Trowa said in a slightly warning tone.

"Fine. Jeeze, sorry for trying to make sure that no one spontaneously combusts from all of the tension," I muttered.

"Um," Quatre said while Zechs made his way around the room. "There is a spare bedroom next door. You can stay there."

"No. It would be best if I stayed in here," Zechs declared from the bathroom and my heart stopped.

In my _bedroom_? He wanted to say in my _bedroom_!

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Heero bellowed at the top of his lungs. "If you think—"

Zechs left the bathroom and gave Heero a stern glare. "You need to learn how to separate your emotions from this, Yuy. If Rankin were to climb up the balcony and get into this room, chances are that if I'm next door, I wouldn't know that something was wrong until too late. I'm staying in this room."

"Sounds good to me!" I exclaimed. "He can stay on the cot. It's already in here, so . . ."

Quatre glared at me. "Don't be ridiculous, Duo! Just because you—"

"Wha? What's that you said, Q? Can't hear you over the sound of Rankin screwing my brains out!" I gave my fellow Gundam pilots a sugary sweet secretly sarcastic smile. "Look, we need to put this rival-enemy crap behind us because I _don't_ want him screwing my brains out. So what I say goes because this is my life we're talking about here. He stays in my room. That's that." I turned to Zechs, who, if I'm not mistaken, looked a little impressed. "Let's go get your stuff, okay?"

Zechs and I headed down the stairs and we each grabbed a couple of bags from the foyer.

"You don't let them push you around, do you?" Zechs asked with a tiny smirk.

I lifted a duffle bag and threw if over my shoulder. "Hell no! No one tries to tell Duo Maxwell what to do, not even Heero Yuy. Drives him up the wall." I headed up the stairs first with Zechs behind me . . . I wondered (and hoped) if he was looking at my butt.

I put an extra little sway in my step . . . just in case.

**xOxOx**

Maybe suggesting that we all go out for lunch was a bad idea. I found myself sitting in a Chinese food restaurant in a semi-circular booth sandwiched between Zechs (yes!) and Heero (oh boy . . .) who was pulling me so close to him and as far away from my bodyguard as possible that I was almost in his lap.

Well. He certainly hadn't wanted me in his lap back when we were together, so he sure as hell wasn't getting it now.

"Heero, stop it! If you want someone in your lap, talk to your boyfriend, all right?" I snapped at him, and the young man who was busy taking Quatre's order began to choke.

Heero glared over at Zechs. "I can't see his hands. Where are they?"

"Why do you want to know?" I asked innocently as I batted my eyelashes as him. "Afraid they're going where yours haven't been?"

Trowa began snickering and Quatre covered his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry," I said to the waiter as he began to look increasingly anxious to get away from us. "Look, I'll have the . . . General Tso's chicken, okay? Heero, order something and shut up."

We all placed our orders, and then the table fell into silence, with everyone sipping quietly on their drinks and doing their best not to meet anyone else's eyes.

I sighed heavily. "You all are acting as if your doggy just died! C'mon, buck up, this is a celebration!"

They all looked at me strangely.

"And just _what_ are we celebrating?" Zechs asked me.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "He probably doesn't even know."

"Yes, I do Mr. Know-It-All," I said with my chin raised. "My birthday, duh."

"Uh, Duo . . ." Quatre trailed off with a very confused look on his face.

"I don't really know when my birthday is, so I might as well celebrate on the off chance that today is the day. Heck, I should be celebrating everyday!"

"Well, in that case," Zechs drawled leisurely as he sat back in the booth and raised his glass. "Happy birthday."

I ginned goofily and clicked my glass with his. This was _my _kind of guy. The others were too busy looking sharing incredulous looks to play along.

"I still have serious concerns about this," Heero said stiffly. "And will you put your fucking hands on the table? I don't trust you."

Zechs' eyes narrowed. "You don't trust me to do what? To not attack you . . . or to not touch Duo?"

Heero snarled. "You—"

"Because you seem very concerned with keeping him away from me."

"Duo is very attractive, I will admit that," Heero said. "I don't trust you to leave him alone."

Hey! Who said that I wanted to be left alone? But before I could open my mouth to speak, Zechs cut in.

"Like I said before, Yuy, I am a professional, and it would be _very _unprofessional to become involved with a client. It isn't going to happen."

Oh yeah? We'll see . . .

The table was silent until the food arrived and everyone started to eat. I'd never had this stuff before, and it was a little to spicy for my tastes . . . but the beef on Zechs' plate looked and smelled just right. I guess he saw me sneaking peeks at it out of the corner of my eye because he stabbed a piece of beef and dropped it onto my plate, and then took a bite of my chicken.

My eyes fluttered and closed. Ohh, his was much better, so tasty and delicious and yummy . . .

It was when Zechs switched our plates, giving me his food and taking mine, that I began thinking that this could really be the guy for me.

**xOxOx**

I went back to the mansion in Zechs sports car, and I tried my best not to go into orgasmic mode again. I failed miserably, I think, because by the time we arrived at Q's place, his shoulders were shaking with amusement.

**xOxOx**

"Duo, honestly, he just switched plates with you! What is the big deal?" Quatre asked later that evening. We were lying on the huge bed in his room watching another romance flick and pigging out on popcorn and candy. The others were in the adjacent study discussing security matters or some other boring crap like that, leaving us time to gossip about the day's happenings.

"We _connected_, Quatre, that's what the big deal is," I said as I turned up the volume on the TV a bit so that the guys wouldn't be able to hear us. "I mean, I don't even think he _liked _the chicken that much and he gave me his food anyway. Men and good food are hard to separate."

"I think you're just making stuff up," Quatre said with a roll of his eyes. He flipped over onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "You want him to like you so much that you're imagining that things happened when they really didn't."

"What, like Rankin does? I don't think so, this is real. And did I tell you what happened in the car earlier?"

Quatre gave me a startled look. "What? Did he try to feel you up or something?"

"Ha! I wish." I went onto my back too. "He accused me of having an orgasm in his car."

"WHAT!"

"Shhh! Jeeze, if Heero hears this, he'll flip." I turned up the TV even more. "You saw Zechs' car."

"Oh, yeah. It's pretty damn cool."

"Yep. So, we were riding in it, and I think I got a little carried away with showing my . . . ah, _appreciation _for it, rubbing the leather and moaning according to him, and he told me to stop having an orgasm in his car because I'd ruin the leather."

Quatre giggled. "No way! What did you say?"

"I denied it of course . . ." I grinned widely at him. "And then I told him that if he liked exhibitionists, that he should go talk to Heero."

Quatre squealed and then broke out into a loud laugh, and was laughing _so hard_ that he fell off of the bed and hit the floor with a thud. That got me started, and together we were laughing like maniacs and holding our sides, which must have caught the attention of the guys in the other room because Heero came into the bedroom and demanded us to tell him what was so funny.

Quatre and I looked at Heero, then each other, and then dissolved into fits of giggles. Heero just gave us one of his death glares (which we were quite immune to by now anyway) and stomped out of the room.

"Heero . . . an . . . haha, an _exhibitionist?_" Quatre snickered as he dragged himself back onto the bed. "He's not, is he? Please tell me he's not."

"I don't think so." I plopped down on the bed. "Of course, I wouldn't know, because we never . . ."

"What I couldn't believe was the way that Heero was acting in the restaurant. Asking Zechs where his hands were. I mean, that was a bit too ridiculous." Quatre punctuated his point by making a face and rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, well, Zechs looks like a private man. I really don't think _he's_ an exhibitionist."

We giggled some more, and when the others returned from the study we did our best to stop.

"Are you two leaving?" Quatre asked Wufei and Heero after he managed to stop snickering.

Wufei had a firm grip on Heero's arm and was busy trying to drag him towards the door. "We'd better go. Heero and I need to have a little . . . talk."

Was it me, or did Heero go a little pale at that? Oh well. "See ya," I called as they left. "Yes! He's gone! Okay Zechs, now you can try to feel me up without worrying about Heero."

Quatre squealed again and buried his face into the bed sheets.

"You'll have to excuse Duo," Trowa said dryly. "He has a . . . strange sense of humor."

Zechs stared at me for a few moments before nodded. "All right. But here? I thought you said you weren't an exhibitionist."

This time it was a strangled squeak that Quatre let out, and Trowa scratched the back of his head, looking very confused.

I laughed and enjoyed the shine in Zechs' eyes that made him even more handsome, if that was possible.

Oh, yes. Zechs Marquise was _definitely _my kind of guy.


	9. Just Call Me Daddy

**Author's Note:** I hate Valentine's Day, because I never have a Valentine. Never ever. But just because I'm a nice person, I'll post this today. So leave a review, please.

I've gotten some comments about Heero being somewhat OOC. I'll be a bit better about it, but I think that in the context of my story and the info I've provided that his behavior is justified.

**Also, I don't really like this chapter, so any feedback as to how I can improve it would be really nice.**

**xOxOx**

I'm sure that Quatre was saying something.

In fact, I'm absolutely _positive_ that Quatre was saying something, but I couldn't hear a damn word that was coming out of his mouth. The two of us were sprawled out on my bed this time and cramming candy and chips into our mouths, Trowa was sitting on the other side of the room with his laptop, and Zechs . . .

Ohhhh, boy. Zechs was in the _shower_!

Quatre's mouth was moving, but all I could hear was the faint sound of running water coming from the bathroom as my mind wandered to exactly _what _was going on in there. I could see it all clearly—Zechs in the shower, steamy beads of water falling onto his tan skin as he rubbed his hard, lean body down with soap, white suds sliding slowly down his arms, his chest, his _butt_ . . . _ummm_ . . .

"Eww, Duo! That's gross!"

"Huah?" I muttered, snapping out of my daze.

Quatre goggled at me. "You're _drooling_!"

What?

Well what do ya know, I was! Quickly I wiped the loose bit of saliva away and gave my friend a sheepish grin. "Er, sorry."

I heard Trowa chuckle softly. "And just _what_ were you thinking of, Duo?"

Quatre snickered and gave me a knowing look. "What do you think, Trowa? _Not _the potato chips, that's for sure."

I looked over my shoulder to see Trowa's reaction. A frown—not good.

"You just met this man, Duo. He used to be our enemy, you know very little about him, and it wouldn't be wise to get involved with him, or hope to get involved with him."

There was no way that I was _not_ getting involved with Zechs Marquise. I mean, this was the man of my dreams—tall, handsome, strong . . .

And then something from weeks earlier came back to me. I grinned smugly at them and sprawled out on the bed with a leisurely sigh.

"Trowa, do you remember what you told me a while ago?" I asked.

He blinked at me. "Duo, I've told you a hell of a lot of things."

"I mean, do you remember reading my palm?"

" . . . you don't think that—!"

"Wait, what are you two talking about?" Quatre demanded.

I smiled at him. "A while ago, Trowa read my palm. He saw me with a tall blond guy, ice blue eyes, and he said that I wouldn't meet him until after something happens. I'm guessing that that something would be Rankin kidnapping me."

Trowa made a funny noise. "You honestly don't think that what I said is _really _going to happen? Duo . . ."

"What? _You_ said it was real."

The bathroom door opened and out came Zechs dressed in loose night pants and a tight tee, his blond hair still wet from his shower. "Go ahead and shower now, Duo."

That sounded like an order! I rolled my eyes and made a face at Quatre. "Yes Dad." I had a pile of clothes sitting on the end of the bed, all ready to go. I grabbed it and sashayed into the bathroom. The place was foggy and smelled really good, like some sort of fruit. Shampoo, maybe? I saw two unfamiliar bottles sitting on the shelf in the shower stall, and when I read the label, I was in heaven.

I grabbed them and returned to the bedroom with wide eyes and a slack jaw. I looked straight at Zechs who was sitting by the window, assembling some piece of equipment, and said, "You use _this_ shampoo?"

" . . . yes . . ."

Quatre and Trowa looked confused. But of course they didn't get it, their hair wasn't anything like mine or Zechs'. "This stuff is the _top of the line_, man! Like, the shampoo and conditioner are what . . . two-hundred dollars a pop? Ohhhh . . ." If I could just get some of this on my hair!

Zechs stared at me, and then went to the closet and pulled out a large duffle bag. He waved me over as he unzipped it, and when it was open, I saw what seemed like an endless amount of the shampoo and conditioners. Jack pot! I stared at it like he'd just shown me his million dollar stash from a bank heist, slack jawed and wide eyed.

Zechs took out a bottle of each and handed them to me. "Whenever you need more, feel free to take some."

He shared _shampoo?_ I loved this guy. "Oh, _god_," I moaned, clutching the stuff to my chest and ran into the bathroom to try it out.

Ecstasy. Pure and utter ecstasy. There is _no _other word for it, okay? I've never seen my hair softer, more shiny and luxurious feeling.

I was blow drying my hair when there was a knock on the door. I opened it a crack and Quatre shoved his way in, closing the door and flipping on the fan. He gave me a serious look. "What was that?"

I glanced at him and continued to brush out my hair. "What was what?"

"The shampoo thing."

I flashed him a brilliant smile. "Just another connection, Q. Cars, food, hair, shampoo . . . did I miss something?"

"Oh Duo . . ."

"Don't say 'Oh, Duo' in that tone of voice, Quatre! We have connections, you can't deny that. I think he likes me."

"Duo. Seriously."

I set down the blow drier and the brush and turned to him. "What Quatre? What is it now?"

"I'm concerned about you. I . . . You think that you two will end up together, and if that doesn't happen, you'll be devastated. I _hated_ seeing you so unhappy after Heero left you, and I don't want to see you like that ever again."

I gave Quatre a quick hug. "I'm glad you're concerned, but it'll be okay. If he doesn't want to be with me, then I'll just have to deal with it. Like I dealt with Heero." I turned on the blow drier and continued working, trying to ignore Quatre's presence in the room.

Okay, I was pissed. You would _think _that your best friend would have your back when it came to this sort of thing, but I guess not. I couldn't count on Trowa, Quatre, Wufei and _certainly _not Heero to support me in this, and that upset me.

Hadn't I urged Quatre to peruse Trowa, even though Tro was trying to resist his attraction to him? Hadn't I nagged Trowa to get over his little insecurities and go after the guy he loved? Didn't any of that _matter?_

Quatre yanked the blow dryer's plug out of the socket. "Duo, don't be like this, please! I'm just worried about you."

"I've been through hell this past couple of weeks. Sorry if I'd like for my friend to support me a little!"

"Just because I'm your friend doesn't mean that I have to do what you want me to do! If I think you're making a mistake, then I'll tell you whether you like it or not!"

"Oh _please_. When I saw that your heart was breaking because Trowa wouldn't return your phone calls after the war, I was tempted to tell you to get over him and find someone else! But I saw how much you cared about him and I stood by you! Why can't you do that for me?"

Then the door opened, and Trowa stepped inside. "All right, what's going on in here?"

I turned pale. "Wait. You could _hear _us out there?"

"Not really. I had my ear to the door, so that's why I heard everything," Trowa said as he stepped between me and Q. "Why are you two arguing?"

"This whole _Zechs obsession_ of Duo's is ridiculous!" Quatre exclaimed. "If he gets hurt because Zechs dumps him or, heaven forbid, _doesn't even want him_, then I will be the one that will have to pick up the pieces!"

Trowa seemed to consider this. "Quatre, you have to realize that that is Duo's choice to make. If he wants to risk his heart on this, then that is his business. As his friends, all that we can do is tell him our opinion, ask him to consider it and stand next to him whatever the outcome may be."

Quatre's shoulders slumped and his eyes began to water. "I'm sorry, Duo. I just hate to see you hurt, and I just want you to be happy . . ." He burst out into tears.

I gave him a real hug this time. "I'm so sorry too! I'll be careful, okay? I'll back off a little, all right? Okay?"

Now we were both crying into each other's shoulders, and Trowa took note of the tears and slipped out quickly and quietly before he got pulled into it.

Once we were done dripping snot all over the place, we exchanged goofy smiles, and then worked on controlling my hair together. We left the bathroom and plopped down on my bed, watching as Zechs began setting something up next to the phone.

"What's that? A wire tap?" I asked.

He looked up from his work momentarily. "Yes. Just in case Rankin decides to contact you. We may be able to track him down if he stays on the line long enough, and I'll be able to listen in."

"Cool," I murmured.

Quatre cleared his throat. "Um, is that legal?"

We all stared at him until he blushed and said, "Never mind."

"Was the shampoo beneficial?" Zechs asked with his head still bent over the machine.

I sent Q and Tro a significant look. "It was amazing. Like a . . . _hair-gasm_. No wonder why it costs two hundred bucks a bottle."

"Who makes it?" Quatre asked, fingering the end of my braid and then a strand of his own hair for comparison.

"Some company named Tonik, with a k," I said.

Quatre's eyes grew wide. "Tonik with a k?"

"Yes, Q, that's what I said. Why are you looking like that?"

Quatre laughed. "I'm pretty sure that WEI owns Tonik! What do you know? Small wor—upmh!"

I smacked Quatre in the face with a pillow and gave him a nasty, evil look. "Wait a minute! You've owned Tonik the entire time and you never _told me_!" I hit him again, and Quatre began to laugh even louder. "You—I—Damn! I've forgiven you for what you said in the bathroom, but _this_? NEVER!"

"Duo—ow! Duo, if you don't—ouch—forgive me, I won't get some FREE SHAMPOO for you . . ."

I froze in mid-smack. Free shampoo? . . . Oh, what the hell. "Okay, but get on it now." We took over Trowa's laptop by shoving him onto the floor and crowding into the armchair that he had been sitting in.

Quatre opened the web browser and I rested my head against the back of the chair, staring at the blonde hottie out of the corner of my eye. There he was, tinkering away with that damn machine. "Soooo . . . Are you getting paid for this, Zechs?" I asked him, hoping that he would _say something_, start a conversation with me, anything!

"No," was his very brief reply. That made me wonder—if he wasn't getting paid, then why the hell had he taken the job? What was in it for him?

"Well, Q, we'd better get him some, too, since Une is being stingy." I watched as Quatre typed a long winded e-mail to the Tonik headquarters which I guess was supposed to result in having fifty sets of shampoo and conditioner and a large amount of other hair products shipped directly to the mansion. Wow, it sure was great to be rich and powerful.

"There, all done!" Quatre hit the send button and jumped out of the chair. "I'm stealing some of that shampoo and trying it for myself. Would you like to help me wash my hair, Trowa?" He said quite innocently as he dashed into the bathroom and came out with the bottles. The two left hand in hand, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were about to get up to.

"Please excuse them, they get up to it more than bunnies do," I said to Zechs. The man was still tinkering with the phone, and not even paying any attention! Damn! My hair hadn't looked this good in ages, I'd taken the time to put on the one pair of pajama bottoms that made my butt look _just right_, and he had his face buried in a bunch of wires and crap.

Feeling more than slightly annoyed, I huffed a sigh and decided to check my e-mail before I went to bed. Let's see, junk mail, junk mail, even _more _junk mail (c'mon, Duo Maxwell did _not _need to enlarge his you-know-what) and . . . what was this? A message from Heero's Preventer's e-mail address.

Without a second thought I opened it, and was surprised to see a large photo loading on the screen.

My skin began to crawl. It was a picture of me, with my face totally scratched out by a pen or a marker—my braid being the only indicator that it was actually me.

I was _sure _to get Zechs' attention now. Just not in the way that I had hoped.

"Uh, Zechs, I . . . I think you might want to take a look at this . . ."

He came over to my side and stared at the computer screen. He tensed and asked, "Who sent this?"

"I got it from Heero's e-mail address, but I don't think he would—Rankin, maybe?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but blushed when it hitched as I said Rankin.

Zechs reached for his cell phone and began dialing. "Une," he said crisply and abruptly. "I need you to trace an e-mail, sent to Duo Maxwell's Preventer's e-mail account from Heero Yuy using _his _e-mail address . . . How soon can you get that for me? Not good enough, I want that by _yesterday_." He ended the call and I gapped. No one bossed Une around . . .

He was calling someone else again, and this time it turned out to be the police. Now they were on the job too. Great—the more the better.

I shut down the laptop and crawled into my bed, burying my face in the pillow. What a nice day it had been—finding out that my Dream Man Zechs Merquise would be guarding my fine body from harm, the car-gasm incident, the restaurant and all . . . and then Rankin had to show up and ruin it all. Right about then I was feeling emotionally exhausted, I just wanted it all to stop—

"Are you alright?" Zechs asked softly from somewhere very close to me.

I lifted my head from the pillow—and put it right back in because with the way that he was standing so close to the bed, I'd ended staring right at his crotch. "M'fine," I mumbled.

The pillow was yanked away and tossed on the other side of the bed. "Hey!" I cried indignantly. I mean, sure he was friggen hot and all, but that didn't give him any right to do such a thing! I glared up . . . _way_ up at him. "What was that for?"

His eyes seemed to burn into mine. "You're doing exactly what Rankin wants you to do—cowering in fear of him and what he might do to him. You are stronger than that."

"What the hell do you know?" I asked grumpily, snatching up my pillow and flopping back onto the bed.

"Don't let him get to you," was Zech's reply. He paused before asking, "Are you ready for bed?"

"Yes, Dad," I replied as he turned out the lights. The room was dark, pitch black except for the tiny flashing green light on the wire tap. I heard Zechs rustling around a bit on the cot before things finally got silent.

I was halfway asleep when I heard Zechs say something.

"I really think that you shouldn't call me that again."

"Call you what?"

"Dad. Just earlier you were giving me the okay to feel you up, so that would kind of be . . ."

I sniggered. "I dunno, some people think that's kinky, you know?" I chuckled into my blankets and then sighed. "G'night Zechs."

" . . . Goodnight."

I didn't go to sleep right away, because I kept wondering what would happen if I rolled off the bed in my sleep (or, on purpose)—and coincidentally right onto Zechs.

**xOxOx**

I didn't want to get up the next morning. I _really _didn't not want to get up the next morning! So when Zechs yanked the blankets off of my bed and onto the floor, inadvertently taking _me _with them, I was pissed.

"All right, now that was uncalled for!" I exclaimed as I rubbed my sore butt.

He shrugged his wide, handsome shoulders, which were already covered by a dark blue button up shirt which he'd paired with a pair of dark slacks. "I tried to wake you up in various ways, but this was the only one that would work."

Oh . . . well, he was too foxy to stay mad at, so I gave him one last semi-evil look before going into the bathroom to put on some clothes. I came out five minutes later and together Zechs and I went downstairs and into the kitchen, where the two lovebirds were grabbing some food to take on the road.

Zechs snagged a muffin and a stack of books that were sitting on the kitchen table before turning to me. "Aren't you going to get something to eat?"

"No, I'm not hun—"

"Get something to eat."

I took a sprinkle covered donut and slipped it onto my finger like a ring. "Yes _Daddy_," I said sweetly, and accompanied it with a fluttering of my eyelashes.

Quatre was giving me a strange look. "Are we all set to go? Good. Zechs, I'm assuming that Duo is riding with you?"

He nodded. "Just so that you know—this is your last chance to have sex with my car, Duo—" At that, Trowa started chocking on his coffee and swearing as he spilled some from his mug onto his hand. "—I'm trading it in for something a little more practical this afternoon."

"Oh, shoot. Normally I'm not one to screw-and-run, but I guess this time I have no choice. C'mon, Daddy, let's get going." I threw open the door and hopped up to the side of the car, stroking it longingly. "Man, am I gonna miss this beauty."

I think Zechs made the ride to the Preventers headquarters extra special—stopping on a dime, taking corners fast and sharp—just for my enjoyment. That or so that he could get off on seeing me have another car-gasm. And really, either way was fine with me.

**xOxOx**

For what was quite possibly the hundredth time since I'd gotten to work two hours ago, Heero passed by my cubicle, try to be nonchalant about the fact that he was peeking above the walls and glaring at Zechs as he did so. I was tempted to flick him off on his next round, but I was able to control my urge.

I sat in front of my computer shooting at asteroids as the passed in front of my spaceship and grinning at the funny firing sound the game made every time I shot my cannon. "Haha! Got ya, sucker!"

Zechs looked up from his book and raised a slim eyebrow at me. "Don't you have work to do?"

I looked around conspiratorially before leaning in to whisper to him. "Let me fill you in on a little secret here, Daddy. No one in this division works, okay? Seriously."

"Is that so?" he whispered back.

"Yes . . ."

"And this is common knowledge?"

"Yes . . ."

"Then why are we whispering?"

Before I could answer, Heero came by and growled at us. "What is going on here?" I guess our heads were a little too close for Heero's liking.

Surprised I pushed myself away from Zechs and sent my rolling chair into the wall of my cubicle. "Ouch! Hey, a little more _warning _next time Heero, okay?"

"What is going on here?" he demanded again.

Zechs returned his attention to his book. "Duo was just informing me about various office policies. For some strange reason, he thought that it would be better for him to whisper."

Heero stared at us for a little while longer before slinking off to circle the office again. Knowing Heero, he'd be like clockwork. Maybe I should time him.

"Why do you work here, if you don't do anything?" questioned Zechs even though he kept his eyes on the pages in the book.

"Preventers policy keeps me and the guys from doing anything else until we're twenty one," I said. Boom! Another asteroid was gone. "So we just bide our time and relax until we hit that age."

Another half an hour passed, and then someone came by my cubicle and stuck his head over the wall. "There you are, Duo. This place is like a maze, it took me forever to track you down."

"Alex!" I jumped to my feet and gave him a grin. "What's up? Got any new information for me?"

Alex frowned and nodded. "Some bad stuff, unfortunately. Is there some place private that we can go and talk?"

"Sure!" I left my cubicle and went to the break room where I shooed out some other workers and locked the door. I sat at the table and waited expectantly for the detective to begin.

He just stood there, though, staring at something just over my shoulder. "I said that I wanted to speak to him in private," Alex said coldly, his eyes narrowing.

I turned around and realized that I'd forgotten that Zechs would be following me everywhere. "Oops. Look, Alex, he's okay. My new bodyguard."

Alex looked very surprised. "Zechs Merquise, your bodyguard? Whose idea was this?"

"Une's."

" . . . maybe I'll have a talk with her about that." Alex sat across from me. "First off, we were able to track that e-mail you got the other day."

I could hear Zechs coming closer, and in a flash he was seated next to me. "Where?"

"These days, technology is pretty a pretty powerful and amazing thing, but that goes both ways. Apparently someone hacked into the Preveters database all the way in London and hijacked Mr. Yuy's e-mail address. All of this was done from a cybercafé, and whoever this person was used a credit card that was—"

"Stolen," I finished for him, dismayed. "And could this have been Rankin?"

"It's unlikely. We've got all of the airports on alert, and with an injury like the one he had, a lot of recovery time would be needed. I'm thinking that this was someone else entirely."

Oh, great, I had another psycho to worry. This just got better and better.

"You said London?" Zechs asked suddenly.

"Yes," Alex replied, regarding the blond suspiciously.

I stared up at the man's handsome face, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head. "What?" I asked. He just shook his head. "What?" I demanded this time. "Do you know something?"

Zechs sat back in his seat and shook his head again. "I'm sorry. It . . . no. It doesn't have anything to do with this." But he was looking thoughtful, which made me _very _curious.

Alex and I shared a look.

"Well," Alex continued, "It also turns out that our David Rankin isn't who he says he is. We found some DNA samples out at the cabin and we ran it through the system. Turns out his real name is Daniel Roberts."

"Damn it," I swore. "What did he do that was so bad that it required him to change his name?"

Alex winced. "At first some minor offenses—like drug possession when he was a teenager, which is why his information was in the system. But the most important thing is that he was wanted for questioning in the murder of his father, mother and little sister."

"Oh. Fuck."

"Oh fuck exactly. Turns out his father had been sexually abusing him, the mother knew and didn't do anything about it, and his little sister was the princess in the family, and he was the black sheep. I guess he snapped one day and killed them all in their sleep when he was a teenager."

I took a deep breath. "Okay, so . . . So that means that he'll probably be very pissed at me for stabbing him in the eye. Betrayal and all that jazz."

"Yes."

"Oh. Fuck."

"Oh fuck exactly. Look, Duo—I'm . . . glad that you have a bodyguard, Duo," he said carefully, and I could tell that he sure as hell wasn't _glad_ with the choice of bodyguard. "Please be very careful."

"I will."

"Good. Now, I want to speak to you in private."

"He doesn't leave the room," Zechs said immediately.

Alex pulled me over to the corner of the room and trapped me in between his body and the wall. "How are you with this, Duo? I mean, with Merquise as your bodyguard."

I shrugged. "I—okay, I guess. He's good, Alex, really good. I'm safe with him."

Alex looked over his shoulder and at Zechs, and then turned back to me. "Are you sure?"

I huffed and rolled my eyes. "What _is_ it with all of you? You guys seem to think that I'm so irresistible and that I'll drive him crazy with my non-existent seductive man-powers or something."

He blushed a bit and shuffled his feet. "Yeah, well, we'll have a little talk about your so-called non-existent seductive man-powers another time, okay? Right now I want to make sure that you're doing fine."

"I'm just as good as I can be in this situation."

Alex nodded and took a step closer. "Um, and, well, about the other night . . ."

My face was probably as bright as a lit Christmas tree. "Oh, please, do we have to talk about that? I'm so embarrassed . . ."

"I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay between us. I think . . ." Alex trailed off. "I think I am beginning to understand that we won't ever, you know . . ."

"I don't think so, sorry," I sad as gently as I could. "You're an amazing guy, but I don't—I don't know, it's just—"

Thankfully Alex cut in, sparing me from having to stutter anymore. "That's alright. Really, it's okay. I'll get over it." He shrugged his shoulders, obviously disappointed.

"Is . . . I dunno, is there anything I can do?" I felt horrible. Here was a fantastic man, and I was turning him away. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Nah. Oh, well, you could keep your ass out of trouble, that would always help."

I laughed. "I'll try my best, but trouble seems to follow me around."

"Yes it does, unfortunately." Alex checked his watch. "I'd better go. I'll get back to you if there are anymore leads." He left, but not without giving Zechs a harsh look.

My bodyguard and I returned to my hellish box, where I stared blankly at the computer screen trying to digest the new information, and it was a good while before anyone said anything.

Zechs suddenly looked up from his book and, much to my surprise, said, "That detective . . . did I mistake the signs, or was he interested in you?"

A slow grin flourished on my face as I gave Zechs a sly look. "Why do you want to know, Daddy? Jealous?"

He didn't reply.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **I know that there are some people out there who are quite confused, or who may be thinking that I mentioned some of seemingly random stuff in this chapter, but don't worry, it'll all tie in somewhere. I promise.

Someone is going to comment on the "daddy" thing, I just KNOW it, so I'll explain. I was listening to this Japanese singer Koda Kumi, and in one of her songs, it sounds like she's saying Daddy, I thought that it was kind of strange and I couldn't resist putting it in. Hehehe.

Well anyway, I found out later that she's really saying "darin," not "daddy." Oh well. Another Japanese singer made a song that had a line that went "creamy creamy, creamy potatoes," so with Japanese music you never know . . .


	10. Together in Death

**Author's Note:** Sorry, meant to have this out two days ago, but stuff happened.

Now it's time for me to answer a popular question—"Why did I make this story 6x2?" Um, I don't know, I just did. Seriously, that's the answer. Well, some factors include the fact that I wanted Duo to be hurt by the fact that Heero was with Wufei because I really like that kind of Duo-torture, and then I was really beginning to like 6x2, a pairing that I enjoy but is sadly underrepresented in the Gundam Wing fandom. So that's it, I guess.

**WARNING: Some bad language near the end of the chapter. **

**xOxOx**

Now it was time for my favorite part of the day—lunch! I tried to put the depressing information that I'd learned a few hours ago behind me for the welfare of my digestive system. I hooked my arm in Quatre's and, along with Wufei, Heero, Zechs and Trowa, we went down to the cafeteria.

I was successful in getting Quatre to buy something other than a plate of lettuce, and the six of us sat down at a large round table near the far wall. Once again I found myself seated between Heero and Zechs, which, I'd learned very quickly, was not really a nice place to be.

I had to hand it to Zechs, though. He handled himself very well even though Heero was doing nothing to make him feel welcome. It took Wufei about five smacks on the leg to get his boyfriend to stop glaring Zech's way every five seconds, but I don't even think that the man in question noticed, or cared.

About ten minutes into the meal, Wufei said to me, "Duo, can I speak to you in private?"

The spaghetti noodle that I'd been slurping up slid out of my mouth and hit the table. Quatre giggled. "Er, me?"

Wufei looked annoyed. "You _are _the only Duo at this table."

"Right, of course you meant me." I coughed and took a looooong swing of my 7-Up. "We'll go over to the next table, is that fine Zechs?"

The man considered it briefly before nodding. Together we sat down at a table not too far from the others, and I looked up at Wufei a little nervously. "Okay, what is this about now?"

"Heero."

"Isn't it always?" I grumbled underneath my breath.

"I feel that I should apologize for his . . . unusual behavior. We had a discussion about that last night."

I grinned. "Oh, yeah? Man, how was it?"

" . . . Interesting, to say the least. He promised me that he would not be so hostile to Merquise. I just—" Then he got this strange look on his face, as if he was feeling a little insecure or something.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I worry that he may . . . well, that he may still have feelings for you." Wufei looked me straight in the eye.

"_Still_ have feelings for me?" I laughed loudly. "Look, Fei, for him to _still _have feelings for me, he'd have to have felt something for me in the first place, which I can assure you that he did _not_. Not that way, at least."

"You can assure me?"

"Hell yeah. I heard him say it himself. Besides," I leaned forward and gave him a wink, "even if he did want me, I wouldn't take him back. So he's all yours, I don't want him anymore."

Wufei sat back in his seat and smirked. "Of course not, it wasn't you that I was worried about. Not after I saw the way you panted after Merquise like a dog in heat."

I blushed and waved my hands around frantically. "SHHHH! Jesus, Wufei, don't be so freaking _loud_ about it, okay! I mean, what if Heero found out? He'd go ballistic! Twenty Heero-darts wouldn't be able to stop him!"

Wufei was looking way too smug for my liking. "I thought so. Thank you for confirming my suspicions. I wasn't entirely sure, but . . ."

I deflated. ". . . Oh. You tricked me. Jerk. And don't say it like _that_; I'm not a dog in heat. Zechs Merquise is a very . . . that is one _fine _man . . . he's just—"

"A man that you've known for a day or so," Wufei said bluntly.

"Oh, not you too! Look, spare me, Trowa and Q already gave me the lecture, I've heard it all."

"I'm just saying . . ."

I glared at him. "Yeah, you'd better be glad that I'm in a good mood, or else I would've—I really don't want to have to hear it from you, too! C'mon, you stole my boyfriend from me!"

Oops. By the look on Wufei's face, I could tell that I said that a little _too _loud . . . yep. The others, including Zechs (to my absolute MORTIFICATION), were staring at us. I gave them the finger and slumped down in my chair. "Sorry."

"No—I, I deserve that." He snickered. "With all of that justice and honor spiel, you'd think that I would've had a little more consideration."

"Damn straight."

"I cannot apologize enough for it," he said solemnly. "I think I'll be apologizing for the rest of my life to you."

"Nah. See, if things go _my _way, I'll have a much hotter guy than Heero, ya know? And . . . I'm still trying to figure that out."

"What, what happened between me and Heero?"

"Yes."

"I don't really know." Wufei blushed. "I, we were talking one night, and then one thing lead to another, I couldn't resist him—"

It was my turn to snicker. "Oh, yeah, it's _real _hard to resist Heero's _seductive man-powers_! Not."

"I—"

"Whatever, Fei. It happened. The heart is a strange thing, so . . ." Wufei looked immensely relieved that he was seemingly off the hook, and that inspired me. I leaned forward, and when he leaned in too, I whispered, "You _owe_ me, dude."

"Owe you _what_?" He hissed, distrust apparent in his eyes.

Hehehe! This was _brilliant_! "You _owe_ me, damn it! You have to help me."

"Help you with what?"

"Getting Zechs, of course."

"Oh! No! I don't think so!" He leaned back so far in his chair that it rocked back . . . and fell over, taking him with it. I laughed loudly as he hit the floor, and instantly Heero was on his feet.

"Heero, I'm fine!" Wufei reassured him, climbing to his feet and glaring at me ruthlessly. He sat back down in his chair and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, pulling me close to him. "Are you _insane_?"

"No, I'm a _genius_!" I exclaimed, wiggling out of his grasp. This _was _absolutely ingenious of me, if I do say so myself. The perfect payback. "You fucking owe me, and you know it."

Wufei just sat there with his arms crossed, looking as if he'd just bitten into a lemon.

"I won't tell Heero, he'll never know. And if he somehow does, then I'll tell him I blackmailed you into it. You _owe _me."

"You are so . . ." he growled and scowled.

"I _know_!" I grinned at him and reached over the table to slap him on the back. "What a guy! Thanks for agreeing, this is gonna be just great!"

Wufei grumbled all the way back over to the table.

Quatre raised both eyebrows at me. "What was that all about? And why are you looking like that?"

"_That_ was personal, and I don't know what I look like, so you'll have to clarify on that bit." I began to eat my spaghetti with renewed vigor.

"You look as if you just, I don't know . . . help me out here Trowa."

"You look incredibly pleased with yourself," Trowa said. "And when you have that look on your face, it spells bad news for one of us."

I waved my spork/foon at him. "Yeah, well, just be glad it doesn't _spell bad news _for you, buster."

"Ain't _that_ the truth," Quatre muttered into his Styrofoam cup.

I just cackled evilly, and relished in the fact that Heero scooted away from me just a bit.

**xOxOx**

After we were all done pretending to be adults for the day, it was decided that we would go out to dinner again, by none other than Heero as a matter of fact! Probably to show his boyfriend that he could indeed be on his best behavior. So we were going to meet up at a sports bar later that evening.

I drove back to the mansion with Zechs, and I said my last goodbye to the car before I went inside. The four of us sat in the living room and watched TV. Well, Zechs had his face in a book _as usual_, but to be honest, I don't really think that he was reading anything. Every time I passed behind him to get some more candy out of the jar on the bookshelf (and in an attempt to get him to notice me, damn it) I saw that he was still on the same page—123. Now, either he's a really _slooooooow_reader, or . . .

I didn't ask him what he was thinking about. It really wasn't any of my business, even though I was dying to know. Was it me? Or this London thing? Or me? Maybe his sister? Or me?

Well, I think you know which one I was rooting for.

We'd been sitting there for about three hours, Quatre with his head in Trowa's lap, me sprawled out on the floor in my best seductive pose, accentuating the buttocks and all, and Zechs burning a hole in the book that he was fake-reading when I heard the intercom crackle. Some dude said, "Hello? Anyone there?"

Quatre got up and went over to the intercom. "Yes, who is this?"

"I have orders to deliver a car to this residence."

I squealed and leapt to my feet. A new car, sweet! I could not wait to see what it was.

Zechs finally set aside the damn book and stood. "Tell him to wait outside the gate."

Quatre did, and then we all went outside to see Zech's new toy. The blonde hottie got into his sports car (bye!) and drove it outside the gate where he spent a little time talking to the tow guy. Then the tow man lowered a big (giant, humongous, gargantuan—you get the idea) black SUV onto the street and took up the sleek sex machine. Zechs drove this one back into the gates and the tow truck drove off with the other car.

Once Zechs pulled up to the front of the house, I bounced up to the SUV and stood on my tip toes to get a look inside. Ohhh, more black leather, plenty of gizmos and buttons for me to spend an entire car ride pressing.

"Wow, I cannot _wait _to ride this one!" I exclaimed, face still pressed against the window.

Behind me I heard a lot of snickering, and I turned around to see Quatre doubled over with a hand over hhis mouth and Zechs lip twitching.

"What?" I demanded.

Trowa shrugged his shoulders. "I don't get it either."

"You . . . haha! You want to _ride _the car? You're going to have sex with this one too?" Quatre fell onto the ground. "Did you even . . . hahahaha! Did you break up with the other car, or are you going to mess around with both of them? Hahaha!"

I blushed. "I meant, ride _in _the car, okay? Man, you are so perverted! I really don't want to know what you and Tro get up to in that bedroom of yours."

Trowa sighed. "Am I the only one that doesn't get the whole "sex-with-cars" joke?"

Quatre regained control of himself. "Haha, okay, let's (snicker) go inside and I'll tell you all about it."

By the time Quatre was done telling the story with me chiming in and giving examples, Trowa was shaking like a leaf on the couch and trying not to laugh. "Duo, you are so . . ."

"I _know_!" I said for the second time that day. "All of this laughing is making me hun—oh shit, we're supposed to meet Heero and Wufei at the restaurant in twenty minutes!"

We were out of the door and into our cars in the blink of the eye, and we were only five minutes late. Of course the two anal-retentive twins were on time and waiting for us to arrive. We slid into the booth and _once again_ I was in between Zechs and Heero. Damn.

"Sorry we're late," Quatre huffed. "We . . . ah, there was an unexpected delivery and we got a little sidetracked."

"Let's just order," Heero grunted, gesturing to the menus that sat before us.

I opened mine and peered over the top of it at Zechs. "What looks good to you, Daddy?" I asked.

"Daddy?" demanded Heero, Wufei and Trowa at the same time.

"The southwest chicken looks interesting," Zechs said as if he hadn't heard the cries of outrage. "You?"

"Oh, I'm a burger-and-fries kind of guy . . . Daddy," I added. "But you'll let me taste some of it, right?"

"Of course."

"Wait, I'm confused again," Trowa said. "Just _where _did this 'daddy' thing come from. I mean, first it was car sex, and now—"

Oh really. Did he _have _to mention that in front of Heero? But, surprisingly, Heero remained calm, but it was obvious that he was taking deep breaths and clenching his fists.

"Inside joke, perfectly harmless and PG-13, well, okay, maybe R rated, but most certainly _not_ X, kay?" I returned my attention to my menu. "Maybe I'll get that southwest stuff too . . ."

Heero turned to me. "What does X rated mean?"

I choked on my spit and stared up at him wide eyed. "Oh, come on. Surely you and Fei have watched a little . . . _you know . . ._"

Wufei began sputtering. "Maxwell, how dare you insinuate—depraved—not like that—you—!"

"I'm sure it is much better that you don't know, Yuy," Zechs replied, his face totally straight.

Heero considered this, then looked at his boyfriend who was making the sound of a busted muffler or something, and nodded. "Yes, I think you're correct. Never mind." Then he returned to his menu.

Quatre and I gapped at each other.

Wow, I guess Wufei and Heero really _were _made for each other—whatever he'd said the other night worked wonders.

**xOxOx**

Dinner was actually pretty enjoyable after that, and we went our separate ways when we were all done, but not before I was able to pull Wufei to the side and say, "Hey, I'm gonna call you tonight. Answer the phone, okay?"

He looked as if he didn't want to, but he nodded anyway.

I was anxious to get back to the mansion and put Operation "Snag The Sexy Blonde" underway, and the first thing I that I did when we got into the house was head for my room, grab the cordless phone, go into the bathroom, turn on the fan and call Wufei. Whew!

As the phone was busy dialing, I could hear Zechs moving around out there. Well, if I could hear him, then he could probably hear me, so . . . I turned on the shower radio and sat on the toilet seat.

"Hello?" someone said grumpily.

"Hey, Fei, what's shaking?"

"Oh, it's _you_ . . ."

"Yep! You know you love me!"

"What the hell is all of that noise in the background?" Wufei demanded.

"I don't want you-know-who to hear us, alright? Okay, this is what we're . . . I'm sorry, _you_, hehehe, are going to do. You are going to try to get him to talk about me, what he likes and doesn't like, that kind of stuff and then you will relay what he says back to me."

" . . ."

"Hello? Fei, if you hung up the damn phone on me, I'll—"

"I'm still here! Look, that'll never work. Why the hell would he talk to me? I don't have _seductive man-powers _either, okay?"

"I don't care how you do it, just _do_ it. Please."

"Duo . . . and what if he tells me something that you wouldn't want to hear?"

"Tell me anyway. That way I won't get my hopes up."

"Yes, well, don't get your damn hopes up either way. He will be able to leave and put this behind him if he rejects you, but the others and I will still be here and we will have to deal with your heartache."

"I know, I know, I've heard it twice now, once from Quatre and now once from you. So . . . you'll do this for me?"

" . . ." He swore in Chinese. "Fine, Maxwell. But if you tell Heero—"

"I said I won't tell! Why would I? Then you'd stop doing what I asked you to do, and that wouldn't help me at all."

"Right. We have a deal then."

"Great! This is so cool. Okay, start tomorrow. I want to know what his favorite color is, what his first impression of me was, and what he thinks of me now that we've spent some time together."

"Color . . . first impression . . . opinion of you now, got it. Bye." Before I could say anything else, he hung up.

I sighed happily and turned off the fan and radio and emerged from the bathroom.

Quatre was sitting on the bed, and apparently he'd been talking to Zechs. No! He would talk to Q, but not to me! The injustice of it all! "Hey, what's going on, what did I miss?"

Quatre turned to look at me. "I hope you weren't doing anything improper with that telephone, Duo. Cars are one thing, but a phone . . ."

I made a face at him and put it back on the charger. "Haha. What's up?"

"Want to watch a movie?"

"Of course! Where—your room?"

"Yep, let's go."

The three of us went into Q's room and settled down. Just as Trowa was about to pop the DVD into the player, one of those special news reports came on.

About Relena Peacecraft . . .

Making a surprise visit to London.

I tried my best not to look over at Zechs and failed miserably. His face was controlled, showing no apparent emotion.

I wonder how he felt about being away from his sister. Why had he left her if he wasn't getting paid? And what about her conveniently being in London where that e-mail had been tracked to? Was it possible that Relena could have done it, or at least could have _ordered_ someone to do it?

She and I had never really gotten along. She was too prissy and annoying for me, and I was too loud, un-classy, and _gay_ for her. Plus I'd gotten Heero and she'd gotten nothing—he even turned down her offer to be a bodyguard.

But she was a big person in the world, why would she take the time to send _lil__' ol' me_ a nasty e-mail?

And did Zechs suspect his sister?

By the time I was done asking myself a million questions, the DVD had already started. But I wasn't paying it any attention—Relena, for the first and hopefully the last time, was the most important thing on my mind.

**xOxOx**

"Sooooo . . ." I watched as Zechs began brushing his hair later that night after the movie was over. "Ah, so, your sister, how did she feel about you coming here to be my bodyguard?"

The hand holding the brush paused for a moment before returning to work. "I don't know. I didn't ask."

"Oh. Maybe that was for the best."

"Yes, probably."

Damn the man for being harder to talk to than Heero Yuy! Why couldn't I get him to say more than a couple of words about himself at a time? How else was I going to figure out whether or not Relena had a problem with Zechs being here with me?

"I'm sure she bitched about me a lot, didn't she?" I asked as I sprawled out on my bed, stretching my body out in a very cat-like way and sighing lazily.

There we go, _that _caught his attention. In the mirror I could tell that he was watching me move about on the bed, and I grinned. "She did, didn't she? S'okay, tell me."

" . . . I will admit that she did say some things . . ."

"Thought so."

"Although I could never figure out what it was about. I'd never met you before, and had only heard rumors—very interesting rumors though," Zechs added, giving me a look through the mirror, "but just rumors none the less."

"I'm sure you did. Look, our issue was all about Heero."

"Ah, yes. I remember that she used to follow him around and ask for him to kill her. He was the ex-boyfriend you referred to earlier today?"

Great! Showing interest in my love life was promising. "Yep."

"And he left you? For Chang?"

I loved the way he said that. I really did. The disbelief in his voice was soooo obvious that it made my heart do weird things. I took a deep breath and commanded my chest to settle down. "Yep," I said again. "I know, I know, you're like, what the hell was Yuy thinking?" I got onto my knees and struck a pose. "How could he leave all of _this_, the beauty, the wit, the sarcastic humor, the super intelligent mind, the—"

"Exuberant self-glorification?" His lips were twitching slightly.

"Hey, if I don't love myself, then who will?" I fell back onto the bed and winked at him.

"You don't seem too upset about it, Yuy, I mean."

"That was a while ago. And besides, I've . . ." _Got my sights set on someone else? No, can't say that. _"Reconciled with him and Wufei. I got over it."

"That is very noble of you."

"Yes, it is, isn't it? So, errr, what about you, Daddy? You involved with a special girl or . . . guy?" I hoped that I wasn't being too obvious and settled for fiddling with a loose string on my pillow case instead of looking at him.

"No, I'm not."

" . . . oh. Well, why not? I mean, you're a fairly good looking guy."

"_Fairly_ good looking?"

"Yes, _fairly _good looking. If it wasn't for the fact that your right nostril is a _bit_ bigger than the left, you'd be rating a hundred out of ten, Daddy."

"You're outrageous."

"Thank you." I yawned.

"Sleepy?"

"Yeeees . . ."

"Time for bed, then." The lights were turned out and we got into bed . . . um, separate beds, I meant. Too bad, huh?

I sighed warily and closed my eyes, snuggling into the bed sheets and pillow. "Really, Daddy, if it weren't for that damn nostril . . . hundred out of ten . . ."

He snickered so softly that I almost didn't hear it. "Yes, and if _your _right butt cheek weren't higher than the left, you'd be a two hundred out of ten, but . . ."

Oh? He'd been looking at my butt? I laughed into my pillow. "Goodnight Zechs."

"Goodnight."

**xOxOx**

It was the next morning, and Zechs, Wufei and I were in the break room with me all the way on the other side of the room, trying to appear like I wasn't straining my ear to hear what they we talking about. I munched on a donut and stared up at the TV, wincing as a news lady began reporting on none other than David Rankin. Apparently this stalking/kidnapping business was _big news_. I hadn't realized it, but maybe I should have given the popularity of glanced over my shoulder—Wufei and Zechs were still talking. That was a _good thing_, I knew, but it bothered me that he would barely even say two words at a time to me, but he would yak away with the others. What the hell was wrong with _me_?

"—Peacecraft made a surprise visit to London yesterday morning, apparently on a much needed vacation after the conclusion of month-long peace talks in Paris. Notably missing at Ms. Peacecraft's side is Zechs Merquise, the formerly estranged brother to whom she granted asylum after the war." This statement was accompanied by a short clip of Relena entering a restaurant surrounded by guards dressed in black, minus Zechs of course. "However, there have been some reports claiming that Merquise has been seen in the presence of Duo Maxwell, and many experts speculate that he has taken on the job of being Maxwell's bodyguard."

Experts? I snorted—yeah, it too _experts_ to figure that out.

"Our network attempted to contact Ms. Peacecraft for a comment but received no response."

Ohh, bad sign. Guess someone wasn't happy about this whole thing at all. Well, once I got the big fish taken care of, then I could deal with Relena's petty jealousy. In the mean time, any more childish e-mails would be met with—

I jumped as something wrapped in a napkin fell into my lap. I stared up at Wufei's retreating back and cautiously opened it to find a small disk inside. What was this?

"Are you ready Duo?" Zechs asked.

I carefully wrapped the disk up and put it in my pocket. "Yeah, Daddy, let's get back to _work_."

It wasn't until later that evening when Zechs was in the shower that I had a chance to pop the disk into my laptop. Hmm, an audio file?

I grabbed a pair of head phones and plugged them in, and then chose to play the file.

_Ohhh__, Wufei, you are **so **good!_

This is what I heard:

_"So . . . Merquise . . ."_

_"Yes?"_

_"I . . . well, I feel that I must apologize on behalf of my boyfriend. His actions are not . . . they will not continue, I've seen to that."_

_"Yuy—Duo's ex-boyfriend?"_

_" .__ . . yes."_

_"Hmm . . . you are not the one who needs to apologize, he does."_

_"Of course, of course. You—ah . . . damn."_

_"Sorry?"_

_"I—your shirt is blue. Do you like blue? Is blue your favorite color?"_

_" . . . I'm sorry?"_

_"You heard me."_

_"Ah, no, my favorite color is red." _

_"Red, a . . . good color.__ Duo's favorite color is black."_

_". . . is it?"_

_"And since you brought up Duo—"_

_"I didn't, you did."_

_"—let's talk about him. What do you think of him?"_

_"He's an . . . interesting individual."_

_"And?"_

_"And what?__ I think that he's a very unique person—smart, confident, humorous . . . What do you want me to say?"_

_"I want you to say that you'll stop staring at his ass when he's not paying attention."_

_" . . . I don't know what you're talking about."_

_"Of course you don't. I'm just warning you—if you want to have some sort of . . . **thing** with Duo, you'd better be prepared to answer much harder questions that what your favorite color is."_

_"I have no intentions of having a **thing **with him at all. This is my job, I will remain professional, and becoming involved with him would be anything but."_

_"Yes, well, you'd better stick to that, or else."_

_"Don't worry, I will. Although, after this is all done, I make no promises."_

_" . . . WHAT! You—if you think—I—"_

_" .__ . . just kidding, Chang. Really, you should learn how to relax." _

There was some inaudible grumbling from Wufei and that was it.

I sat back in my seat, mouth wide open. Okay, that the fuck was that? The jerk, he wasn't supposed to scare Zechs away! That wasn't part of the deal!

Now I wasn't sure whether to be mad or excited about some of the stuff I'd heard. Had Zechs been serious about "making no promises" about making a pass at me after Rankin was caught? I hoped so, but I couldn't be too sure, since he'd been teasing Wufei at the same time. Damn.

I heard the bathroom door open and quickly yanked off the earphones, removing the tiny disk and shoving it into the desk drawer. "All done in there, Daddy?"

"Yes. Your turn."

Yes, once again, I was taking my shower after _him_. I'll let you in on a little secret—it was . . . _exciting_ to go into that bathroom in which he'd _just _been naked, dripping wet with water and muscles firm . . . yummy. What a turn on.

Unfortunately, I didn't even get a chance to get into the bathroom—the phone rang as soon as I got into the door frame.

Zechs, who was standing near the dresser, froze. I reached for the phone, but he shook his head and quickly went over to the wire tap, where he put the head set on and nodded at me.

"Hello?"

_". . ._ _Duuuuuuoooo__ . . ."_

Oh, hell.

"Hello, David," I said cheerfully, looking at Zechs warily. He made a gesture that I knew immediately—stretch it out. "How are you?"

_"You don't care. You don't give a damn."_

"Now, that's just not true. How's your eye? Do you need help? Where are you?" I tried to keep my voice calm as the phone receiver smacked repeatedly against my ear—that's how much my hands were shaking.

_"Don't pretend as if you care! I thought you loved me, I thought you cared, but I was wrong, wasn't I?"_

"N-no, I—"

_"Shut up! What have you done, gone back to that damn Jap Yuy? Are you back in his bed? Are you spreading your legs for him like a whore? Or is it the tall blonde man that I see you with now? Do you let **him** fuck you? I bet you do, I bet you—"_

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I exclaimed, tired of his shit. "I'm not doing anything with anyone, okay?"

_"You will pay. I gave you my heart, we were going to be together till the very end, just you and me and Death . . ."_

My skin began to crawl. My breath hitched. "What? What do you mean, you and me and death?"

_"I had it all planned out. We were going to die together, be buried together, nothing and **no one **would be able to keep us apart then."_

I placed a hand over my stomach as it lurched and rolled. "You sick fuck, I—"

_"Don't think that you can get away from me that easily, Duo. I **will **have what I want, and we **will **be together in Death as I had planned. **No one else will have you if I can't!**"_

The line went dead.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note:** Yeah, so. Um, sorry, don't expect an update anytime soon because a) I have an English paper due on Tuesday that I haven't started cuz I'm lazy and b) because I have some tests next week that I wish I didn't have to study for but hey, can't really get into law school with a bad GPA, you know? Well, hopefully since I'm good at English and writing, the paper won't take that long, so maybe I can squeeze something in. But of course, reviews would help . . .


	11. Return of the Bad Guy

**Author's Note:** Yeah, I know you all are wondering about that English paper. Well, I finished six pages in a couple hours, soooo . . . I don't know why I worried about it since all I do is write stuff. Oh well, I still have those two tests. This is a shorter chapter, but I will have to do a lot of studying this week and since you all are fantastic reviewers, I thought I'd give you guys something to chew on for the rest of the week.

**xOxOx**

Well, after a particularly terrifying phone call like _that_ one, you woulda thought that something, _anything_, was going to happen.

But it didn't.

For a whole freaking month and a half, absolutely _nothing _happened. Now, you're probably thinking that I shouldn't be complaining about that, but a month and a half spent walking around on pins and needles, looking over your shoulder every time you stepped out of the house and _staying _in that house every day except for when you went to work . . . which I didn't go to anymore, so I guess I'm always in the house. Yeah, not fun.

Hmm . . . let me take that back. It wasn't all that bad, because it gave Zechs and I plenty of time to get to know each other, and since Heero and Wufei were at the mansion a lot, it gave Fei ample time to make some more recordings for me.

So yeah, it was all right, besides the nagging feeling of suspicion and fear in the back of my mind.

At least, it _was _going alright until someone called the mansion's vid-phone in the kitchen, and I just _happened_ to answer.

I picked up the phone receiver. "Hello? Who's this and what do you want?" I asked with my back to the screen, watching Zechs read the morning paper and sip from a mug of hot chocolate that I'd just made for him—I knew that he loved the stuff, especially with a lot of big marshmallows, thanks to Wufei.

"Oh, now why did _you _have to answer the phone?" was the whispered reply.

I winced and smacked myself with the phone receiver. Quatre had caller ID, of course, and I should've used it.

"Hello, how are you? I know who you want to speak to, so I'll just—"

"Now hold on a minute!" Relena said sharply. "I'd like a word with you too!"

Zechs raised an eyebrow at me. "Rankin?"

I wish!

I shook my head. "Okay, what is it? Make it fast," I grumbled into the phone.

"You leave my brother alone! Once your stalker is put behind bars, he'll be coming back to me, do you understand?" Then she squeezed her lips together so tightly that they seemed to disappear into each other.

"Sure, whatever . . ." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't give me that, Duo Maxwell. First you ensnared poor Heero in your _web of seduction_—"

"In my _what_?"

"—then this David Rankin man, whom you _obviously _toyed with and drove insane—"

"Now hold it right there!"

"—and I won't let you have my brother! He is—"

I sighed and gave up. "Zechs, it's for you. Take the phone from me before I do Rankin's work for him."

Zechs was out of his seat and had the phone in his hand in a split second. I wandered away and poured myself some hot chocolate, piling the mug to the rim with marshmallows and sprinkles. I sat at the table and watched as Zechs talked with his sister, not making an effort what so ever to hide the fact that I was listening in on their conversation.

"—not sure, Relena," Zechs was saying softly. "I will stay here until I am no longer needed . . . what? What about what? Relena, I already told you that that was over, and if I come back, that won't be the reason."

From all the way across the kitchen, I heard Relena screech—"IF!"

I sniggered into a marshmallow.

"Yes . . . yes, Relena. No. I'm sure, no, I'm not—yes, I am eating my vegetables."

I laughed as Zechs shook his head warily.

"How is everyone there? Good. Tell them to be on their best behavior. If I hear of any slip ups, I'll . . . of course, but—don't say that. How is . . . Okay, okay, fine. I will later. Yes, I still have the number to the—I appreciate you calling. Uh huh, bye." Zechs hung up the phone, grabbed his mug and chugged down the rest of his hot chocolate like it was Vodka before getting more.

I giggled. "What was that all about?"

He looked at me, one side of his mouth turned up slightly. "Nothing. Just about how you were ensnaring poor, young men with your seductive man charms, and about how I better make sure that I'm not the next one or else I'll end up in a straight jacket, slobbering all over myself and screaming your name."

Oh, screaming my name? I liked that part. "Did she really say that?"

"No."

"Oh. But—"

"It was all in her tone."

"Umm. Well, ah, sorry about that. I mean, you being kinda sorta put in the middle. That's not right or fair."

"The world is often not right or fair."

"Of course. It's just that people should do all that they can to make sure it is, right? I mean, ideally, but you know how things go, and how people really are . . ."

". . ." Zechs put down his mug and raised an eyebrow at me. "Am I mistaken . . . or was that the first semi-intelligent conversation that we've ever had?"

I sat up straight in my seat and looked indignant. "Hey! I resent that, and for the record, I _would _throw this hot chocolate at your face, but I kind of like the shirt you've got on, and it would be a shame to see it destroyed by chocolate stains."

Zechs eyed the mug in my hand warily, and got up from the table anyway. "The others will be back from work soon. Should I go ahead and order the usual?"

"Sure, why not?"

Yes, you may be noticing that he does, indeed, talk to me now. It took some hip swaying, some coy looks, but mostly being just plain old annoying to get him to realize the more that you ignore me, the more I'm gonna bother you. So he finally wised up a couple of weeks ago and now we have _conversations_. Not with a lot of talking, but conversations nonetheless. Progress, baby.

To be honest, Zechs was becoming an integral part of our little group. Heero didn't really mind his company so much anymore, except when it looked like the blond was getting a little too close to me, Wufei and Zechs seemed to have built some sort of amicable relationship (partly cuz of my little plan) and he got along with Trowa and Q pretty well too.

But there were still some problems between me and him. He wasn't as open with me as he was with the other guys. I mean, it was _better_, but not as good as it could've or should've been.

I knew why. It's cuz he liked me and didn't want to admit it. Er, at least that's what I like to tell myself.

No, but seriously, I think that he _does _like me, as in _like me _like me. Even Quatre, the Great Skeptic, is starting to think so.

Speaking of Quatre . . . here he comes now.

Quatre and Trowa came into the house and joined us in the kitchen. "So, how was your day of not working?" Quatre asked with a grin.

"Oh, you know, no different from a work day," I replied with a wink. "But you'll never guess who called."

Trowa sat down in a chair and propped his feel up on the table, only to have Quatre shove them off. "Why don't you just tell us?"

"No, guess."

"No, tell us."

"Where's the fun in that? Just guess!"

"No, why don't you just _tell _us?" Trowa smirked.

Oh, so he was going to make things difficult, huh? Well, I could go on all day with this if I wanted to. And it would serve him right—

"It was Relena," Zechs said as he took his ear from the phone.

I made a face at him. "Spoilsport. Jeeze, I'm rethinking the no-hot-chocolate-on-the-shirt thing, okay? Better watch out."

He just gave me a super sexy, melt-your-heart, sly smirk. "Don't worry, I will."

Trowa cleared his throat. "Well, what about Relena?"

"Oh! Yeah, well she just called here not too long ago . . . how the hell did she get his number anyway? I thought that it was private? Then again, Rankin got _my _private number here, but—"

But Relena was practically Queen of the World, so she could probably get any damn phone number that she wanted with one scream to the help. So . . . could she be working with Rankin? Was she really _that _upset about Heero (if that was the case, she should be after Wufei, not me) and was she really that pissed off that her brother was here with me and not her? Well, the evidence was stacking up against her, wasn't it?

Relena helping Rankin . . . that just made him even more dangerous, now that he had a practically unlimited amount of resources at his finger tips. Damn, not good, not good.

"Duo? Are you okay?" Quatre was asking me, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Huah? What?"

"You were staring off into space. Are you okay?" Quatre, Trowa and Zechs, who was now sitting at the table across from me, were all giving me very concerned looks.

I very well couldn't have just blurted out my suspicions about Relena, since I had no hard evidence and a lot of speculation. "Ah, well, you know me, always, ahhh . . . you know, staring off and drooling and forgetting what I was saying . . . what were we talking about?"

A collective sigh.

"Relena," Trowa supplied as he shook his head. "What did she want?"

"Just to tell me how evil I was, how I wasn't going to ruin Zechs the way I'd ruined Heero and Rankin with my seductive man-powers and such . . ." I fluttered my eyelashes. "Watch out Q, or I'll take Trowa away from you and turn him into a slobbering fool who does nothing but scream my name."

Quatre looked surprised. "Did she say that?"

"No. But . . ."

"It was all in her tone," Zechs and I finished in unison. I began laughing, and Zechs began smirking once again into his mug.

"Does that bother you, Zechs?" Quatre asked, concerned. "Duo, don't tease about his sister, that's not nice."

"No, it is okay. I should talk to her about this. Before it gets out of hand."

I sat back in my seat and stared at the phone. If Relena really was helping Rankin, then maybe it already had.

**xOxOx**

Sitting around in the mansion all day was really not my ideal way to pass time. While Zechs seemed quite content to stick his nose in a book all day, I wasn't, but having gone through every movie that Quatre and I owned and having re-read every one of my manga at least three times, I was bored out of my mind. So the next morning I found myself lying on the living room floor, flipping through the TV channels for the tenth time while Zechs was reading some junk or other.

Okay. Work wasn't as bad as _this_. At least I had Quatre that I could mess around with, but here, all I had was the quiet bookworm Zechs Merquise, who wasn't paying me any mind what so ever.

"Zeeeechs . . ." I wined.

"What?"

"M'booooored . . ."

"Read a book."

"A book?"

"Yes, a set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers."

I gave him the finger. "I know what a book is, ding dong."

"Ding dong?"

"Yes, the peal of a bell, or, in this context, slang for an empty headed person or a fool," I replied cheekily. "Look at this, Zechs, there's a carnival going on down at the wharf—"

"No."

"Oh, come on! I'll put on one of those kiddies leashes and that way, no one will be able to snatch me away from you!"

"No."

"I _swear _I'll be on best behavior! I swear!" I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and poked out my bottom lip.

He melted. "Fine, but once Trowa and Quatre return. Then we'll go together."

"Hoha! Yes, I love carnivals, all of the lights, the music, the food, the stuffed animals—"

"If you shut up, I'll win one for you."

In a split second my lips were sealed.

When Trowa and Quatre returned from work, they barely had time to step into the doorway before I was hauling them back outside and saying, "Meet me and Zechs down by the wharf. Carnival here we come!"

Let me tell you this—I was honestly considering this outing my first 'date' with Zechs. When we arrived at the wharf, Zechs helped me down from the giant SUV and he grabbed my arm and forced me to link mine in his, probably to that I wouldn't run off or something. Like I would! This arm-linkage brought me insanely close to the man's body, and there was no way that I was going to run from that.

The first thing that Quatre and I did was to make our men win us a giant stuffed animal. We went up to a booth that had this stupid shooting game, where you'd win a big prize if you hit at least eight of the ten targets right in the center. A piece of cake, and in less than a minute, Trowa had gotten eight of them dead center, and Q was the proud owner of a giant fluffy pink and white bunny.

I watched as Zechs took the fake gun and began leveling it. "Now, Daddy, remember our promise. I was quiet for the entire day, and now you have to win me something."

Zechs nodded to me and asked the man in charge, "What do I get if I hit all ten?"

The man was looking at all of us nervously. Understandable, I guess, cuz we _were _some dangerous dudes. "Ah, look man, you can have whatever you want if you hit 'em all."

"What do you want, Duo?"

These prizes at this booth weren't all that great. I didn't want a bunny or a dog, but . . . I looked around and spotted a something booth over. "I want that, that big ass tiger."

"Okay," Zechs said in a business-like manner and fired the gun ten times, hitting all of the targets in the center.

Quatre and I cheered. I gushed as the dude got the tiger and handed it over to me. "Thank you, Zechs," I said, linking the arm that wasn't holding the stuffed animal in his once again. My first gift from Zechs . . . it would take an army of Gundams to get me to give the thing up, damn it. I saw some kids looking longingly at it, and I just stuck my chin into the air. Mine, okay, all mine?

After Quatre and I were done stuffing our faces with chili dogs and chasing our reflections in the House of Mirrors, we dragged the other men into the Horror House, purely as an excuse to act scared and throw ourselves at them.

Well, it was getting late, and we agreed that it was time to go. Zechs forced me to hand my tiger over to Quatre to put in the back seat of _their _SUV, because he didn't want it blocking his vision or something. After a few weak protests, I did as he asked and got into his SUV.

We quickly lost Quatre and Trowa in the traffic, and then it began to rain lightly. I got tired of listening to the soft rock on the radio and the pitter patter of the rain drops, so I decided to talk.

"So, did you have a good time?"

"Yes."

"Oh, that's good. Did you . . . ah, did you ever do anything like this with your sister?"

"No."

"Oh. Well . . . do you ever say anything other than yes and no?"

"Sometimes."

I rolled my eyes. "So we're back at this then? The one word answers? I thought we got over that _weeeeks_ ago. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Duo. I'm fine."

This guy was moodier than a chick PMS-ing. Like a hot and cold faucet, he could turn it off, and then on, and then off again, and it was beginning to get on my last nerve. What had I done to tick him off now? "Whatever I did, I'm sorry man, I—"

"That white van has been following us for a while now. I'm going to try to loose it. Hold on."

I gripped onto the edge of the seat as Zechs made a hard and sharp right turn and looked in the rearview mirror as the white van made the exact same move. Oh, hell, it was following us! I made sure that my seat belt was on tight and sat all the way back in my seat.

We sped down the road for a few minutes before making another sharp turn, and this time the van rammed into the back of us, tires squealing as they did their best to stay on the slick roads.

"Fuck," Zechs swore, and I could see why.

Now we were on a lonely stretch of road, with no other cars around. The driver of the van saw this as the perfect opportunity and slammed into the back of us again. Then it pulled into the lane to our left and gave us another shove.

The SUV swerved, Zech's arms straining to keep the car straight, but it wasn't enough. The white van rammed into our side one more time and the SUV lost traction on the wet roads, flying off of the pavement and towards the tree-lined side of the road.

A giant tree was directly in our path, getting closer and closer and then all I heard was the squeal of the tired and the crunch of metal hitting bark and Zechs' cry of pain and bones cracking, and I felt was mind numbing pain starting at my head and coursing down, down through my body and then the pain, the sounds, everything was all gone.

**xOxOx**

Oh, shit, my head hurt like a Gundam had just sat down on it.

What . . . where was I? What happened?

Oh, yeah, the car I'd been riding in had gone careening into a big ass tree. Just great.

I moaned loudly and, despite the protests of my muscles and bones, sat up and removed my forehead from the airbag, which was red and sticky with what I assumed to be my blood. I looked to my left to see Zechs knocked out cold, head pressing into his airbag and body limp.

I whimpered and began reaching out to him to see if he was okay, when I felt a something cold, round and all too familiar pressing into my right temple. The gun dug even further into my skin and a hand closed around my throat.

"Get out of the fucking car."

It was David Rankin.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note:** Bwahahahaha! I love ending with a bang. Man, I've having a great time with this (cuz I know what's going to happen), how bout you guys? Hehehe . . .

The **'ding dong'** part also comes from another Koda Kumi song, just like 'daddy'. I have no idea what she's saying since she's singing in Japanese, so I really have no idea why she busts out with 'ding dong baby' in English in the middle of her song. Haha. Oh, and all definitions came from dictionaryDOTcom, not me.

And let's see if anyone can interpret Zech's conversation with Relena, cuz it's very important . . . (wink) But if you think you know, don't leave it in our review or else you could spoil it for someone else.


	12. Love Hurts

**Author's Note:**** I wish that Mr. or Ms. Bonus Wish had left an e-mail address so that I could've talked to him or her.  
**

**Anyway, Relena-bashing . . . Unlike a lot of other slash Gundam Wing stories, MY 'Relena-bashing' is VERY IMPORTANT to my plot by adding to suspense and to the list of possible 'suspects', and not just there for _my _enjoyment or for no good reason at all. Besides, the voice that I gave Relena works in _my story_ ****because of the history that she and Duo have in the context of _my story_, which was that she didn't like him because Heero didn't love her, didn't join her as a bodyguard like she wanted him to and, to top it off, went to be with Duo instead. **

**I'm not saying that Relena is a psychopath. I'm not even saying that she has _anything _to do with Rankin or the stalker business at all. Maybe she does and maybe she doesn't, but I'm not telling because that would ruin the big surprises that I have planned for this fic. If people think that Relena's done something, then that's their assumption, but like I said, I'm not saying anything. (Sly grin) **

**This is a whodunit, suspense and a mystery fic—whodunit stories need suspects, and hey, _a lot_ of people are going to come under suspicion, not just Relena. I promise you all that. I know exactly where this story is going and where it isn't, but you'll just have to wait and see.**

**(Deep breath) Okay! Well, I hope that's all cleared up. I hope I didn't sound mean because I wasn't trying to, but I really wanted to make sure that everyone understood that.**

**xOxOx**

Oh, shit, my head felt like a Gundam had just sat down on it.

What . . . where was I? What happened?

Oh, yeah, the car I'd been riding in had gone careening into a big ass tree. Just great.

I moaned loudly and, despite the protests of my muscles and bones, sat up and removed my forehead from the airbag, which was red and sticky with what I assumed to be my blood. I looked to my left to see Zechs knocked out cold, head pressing into his airbag and body limp.

I whimpered and began reaching out to him to see if he was okay, when I felt a something cold, round and all too familiar pressing into my right temple. The gun dug even further into my skin and a hand closed around my throat.

"Get out of the fucking car."

It was David Rankin.

I tried to speak, to protest, to curse his ass to hell and back, but all I could do was gurgle in the back of my throat as blood began to drip out of the corner of my mouth.

After a couple of yanks, the door squealed as it opened, and Rankin finally let go of my throat so that he could undo my seat belt. Once I was free, he grabbed me by the hair and dragged my weak, battered and bruised body away from the mangled wreckage that used to be one pretty sweat car and further into the trees, the gun pressed to my head every step of the way.

Oh, God, the sick bastard was going to get what he wanted, he was going to kill me, take my body and bury it with his and maybe he would kill Zechs too—

The crazy gun-wielding bastard flung me into a tree and then bent down, grabbing my chin roughly and getting way too close for comfort. He jerked me around by my face and slammed my head back into the tree. This time the gun found itself jamming into my gut.

"You _betrayed _me," Rankin rasped, his mouth next to my ear. "I—you—I should put this bullet in your gut right here, right now!" The gun went further into my stomach. "But . . . but . . ."

"But what?" I grunted, blinking rapidly as I tried to straighten out my vision,

"But looking at you now, so fierce, so beautiful . . ."

Oh, what a sicko. Here I was, coughing up blood and oozing it from my head, and he was thinking freaky thoughts. Urk.

"I cannot determine what is more important . . ." The gun slid beneath my dirty t-shirt to dance across the skin on my chest, "the fact that you betrayed me, or the fact that you are the most beautiful creature that I have ever seen."

Superficial bastard. Shoulda just shot me.

"Please . . . I . . . I'm sorry," I said.

The gun stilled, but the grip on my face tightened. "Sorry?"

"Yes, I . . ." I coughed. Ouch. "I didn't know that you and I were . . . so alike. If I had, then I never would've . . ."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your parents . . . they—"Cough, cough. "—they betrayed you, they didn't treat you very well, did they?"

"What do you know—"

"And neither did my folks. They . . . they _abandoned _me, they didn't care about me," I said, giving him the most pitiful look that I could muster. "We are alike, don't you see? And I didn't understand before . . . but now I get it, I do, I . . ."

He crumbled, just as I had expected. His hands gently caressed my face as he said, "Yes, of course . . . you didn't mean it, you just didn't understand . . ."

What an idiot. "Yeah, that's right." Cough.

Rankin's eyes . . . whoops, _eye_ widened as he took me in as if he had _just _noticed that fact that I was bleeding all over myself. "You're hurt."

"Erm, yeah . . ."

"I will call for an ambulance. But first . . . will you meet me somewhere?"

Would I _meet _him somewhere? Yeah, with a fleet of cop cars for backup. "Of course I will. Where? When?"

He thought about it. "I don't know. Later, I'll contact you later. We will meet and then we will be together—"

Yes, together in death, yada, yada, yada. Just go the fuck away. "Okay. Okay."

Rankin gave me one last look before turning away and dashing through the trees. I stayed exactly where I was until I heard the van start up and drive away.

Owie, owie, owie! It had been a few years since my body had felt _this _bad, but I just gritted my teeth and hauled my ass off of the wet ground—there was a man that I had to see to back at the mangled SUV.

The road was still empty and the rain was falling even heavier by the time I got back. Immediately I limped over to the driver side door and yanked it open after several agonizing tries. Zech's face was turned slightly to the left, face covered in blood.

Oh jeeze, please don't let him be dead, please . . .

The smell of gas in the air was making me nervous, so I reached around and unbuckled his seat belt, and then as gently as I could I slid him out of the driver's seat and onto the ground. The slight rise and fall in his chest gave me the strength to believe that he would be alright.

I tried to drag him away from the car, but this guy was as heavy as hell. I got, oh . . . maybe five feet away before I just gave up. I plopped my but down in the wet mud and began smacking him in the face.

"Hey, Zechs, wake up. C'mon man . . ."

He groaned deliciously, which would've really turned me on if a) I didn't have my butt in a puddle of mud b) I wasn't soaking wet and c) I could feel anything other than pain. Those icy blue eyes fluttered open and I smiled down at him.

"Okay, can you get up? I want to get away from this car in case it blows . . ."

We leaned on each other and limped away from the SUV, and were sure to stay in an area where any passing cars would be able to see us.

"What happened?" Zechs grumbled as he blinked rapidly to keep the blood that was running down his face from dripping into his eye.

I wiped the red stuff away for him and sighed. "David Rankin ran us off the road, the freakin' bastard."

Zechs stiffened and his eyes narrowed. "Where is he?"

"Gone, I did some . . . oww . . . some smooth talking and basically said that I'd go with him willingly," I replied. I couldn't help it, now my head was feeling like _two _Gundams had sat on it —I dropped my forehead down onto the man's shoulder, and was relieved when he didn't push me away.

"Willingly?"

"I didn't mean it, duh . . ." I began feeling around at Zech's waist.

"What are you doing? You're not doing what I _think _you're doing, are you?"

"What, trying to feel you up when you're half out of your mind? It's a good idea, but noooo, I'm looking for . . ." Ah, there it was. I unclipped Zech's cell phone from the back of his pants and flipped it open. I really couldn't trust a raging mad man to call for an ambulance, so I was gonna have to do it myself. I dialed a special number.

"Hey, Alex, this is Duo. I need some help right away." Zechs glared at me, and I just grinned back.

"Duo? What happened now?"

I told him where we were and what had happened.

"Fuck. Okay, I've squad cars and ambulances headed your way. Stay some place visible and _for God's sake_, please don't manage to get into anymore trouble between now and the time we get there to save you, alright?" Alex sounded quite agitated, but I guess he was just worried about me. I laughed and then winced as my ribs began to ache.

"Ouchie. I'm not really sure what else could happen. I mean—"

Zechs, who had a very sour look on his face, yanked the phone away from me and put it up to his own ear. "Get some men on this _now_, detective. I caught part of the license plate—XMC and then a nine. I want you to find that damn van and tell me how the hell Rankin got his hands on it with his face plastered up on every news channel, telephone pole and in every mail box in the galaxy. Do you understand?"

Oops. _Someone _wasn't too happy, huh? Guess I wouldn't be, either, if my really expensive and sweet looking sexy car had been smashed into a worthless heap of metal.

Then his face got even more dangerous. "No, I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, detective, but maybe I should. I hear sirens, good bye." Zechs snapped the phone shut and stumbled onto his feet, dragging me with him.

"Someone's grumpy," I sang with a grin.

He gave me a weird look. "You were just in a car wreck, you had a gun pressed to your head not ten minutes ago, you're loosing a lot of blood. . . and you're smiling?"

"Hey, this is Duo talking to. I'm just happy that my brains are still in my head and not all over that tree back there or on your dashboard. Finally, the cops!"

From all directions, it seemed, cop cars, ambulances and fire trucks appeared on the scene and almost immediately, I was forced down on a stretcher by Alex who gave Zechs a nasty look while the blond was being ushered away to another ambulance.

"Are you all right?" He walked with the stretcher back to the ambulance.

"I'm fine, I don't need to be on this thing, I—"

"Shut up, you're going on the stretcher whether you like it or not."

Oh, okay. Sure.

Alex began asking questions as we sped off, but somewhere along the way I'm pretty sure I passed out because the next thing I remember is waking up in a very dark room and being freaked out because I had no flippin' idea where the hell I was. But as my eyes adjusted, I realized that I was in a hospital, lying in one of those cool mechanical beds in a backless gown.

Damn, my head still felt horrible. One hand went up to finger the bandages taped to my head while the other searched for the button panel. There we go! I hit a random one and the TV came on, giving me enough light to see the rest of the buttons. I turned on the lights and reached for the telephone.

I called Quatre's cell phone and in less than two minutes, he, Trowa, Wufei and Heero came barreling into the room, despite the futile protests of two doctors and a nurse.

"DUO!" Quatre exclaimed as he practically launched himself at me. We hugged and then Trowa pulled the frazzled blond away.

"Hey, all. What's up?" I asked, giving them a grin.

Heero frowned slightly. "Why are you grinning?"

"Cuz I'm alive!" I jerked up in the bed. "Oh, hell, what happened to Zechs? Is he okay? Please tell me that they didn't have to cut any of his hair to fix him up! Where—"

Trowa looked amused and cut in. "He's fine. He's checking out right now and he should be up here soon. And yes, all of his hair is still on his head."

I sat back and let out a deep breath. "Oh, that's good. Well, when can I go too?" I asked the doctor.

"You can leave, Mr. Maxwell," he said.

Heero gave the man a stern look. "Are you sure? I saw that car. Run some more tests."

"No, Heero, if the doc says I'm fine, then I'm fine!" I kicked away the bed sheets and, just in the nick of time, remembered that if I stood up, my bare ass would be on display for everyone in the room. Now, if Zechs had been there, then I woulda been up and out of that seat in a flash, but . . .

"Er, does anyone have some clothes for me?" I wondered, clutching at the back of the gown.

The door opened and Zechs came in, dressed sharply in all black and a white bandage tied around his forehead, with a bag and . . . the TIGER (!) in hand. He walked right past everyone and sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Glad to see you're okay, Daddy. What's in the bag?" I asked curiously, trying to peek inside.

Zechs handed me the tiger and pulled out a pair of jeans, a pretty blue shirt and some flip flops. "For you. I figured that you wouldn't want to have everyone staring at your naked backside."

"When did you have time to get _that_?" demanded Wufei, shock and surprise quite obvious in his voice.

"Hush, Fei, what does it matter?" I gave Zechs a pretty smile. "Thank you—you're right. I must certainly do _not_ want anyone looking at my uneven butt cheeks."

Trowa scratched the back of his head. "Your uneven _what_?"

"Another inside joke, Tro, don't worry about it. Now, could you all leave so that I can change?"

Quatre stayed behind and helped me into the bathroom where he gently placed the new clothes onto the counter, eying the price tag on each item. Zechs had even included a pair of silk boxers that had cost—

"A hundred and fifty creds for a pair of drawers! Is he fucking crazy?" I asked as I slid them up my body.

Quatre looked at the shirt and the jeans. "Damn. If you don't like the sound of _that_, then I'm not going to tell you how much _these _cost."

I just grumbled and sat on the toilet seat. I was having a hard time getting the jeans on without offending some injured part of my body, and eventually I just gritted my teeth and yanked them on.

"That was awfully thoughtful of him," Quatre murmured. "I mean, when did he have to time to get the clothes?"

"I dunno. Where'd he get the tiger from?"

Quatre laughed. "Oh! He called me and Trowa from his cell phone in the ambulance, and he told us to bring it with us. Didn't say a damn thing about any clothes, and it totally slipped our mind, but he was pretty insistent about that tiger."

"He likes me, I know it Q."

Quatre helped me get the shirt on and then began working on the buttons. "I am beginning to think that you could be right. The doctor told me that he asked about you just about every ten minutes."

"I knew he wanted me, and all it took was a car crash and a gun to the head to prove it." I checked myself in the mirror and winced. Urgh, parts of my face were slightly purple from light bruising and I was way too pale for my liking. Nothing much could be done about that.

I grabbed the tiger and clutched it tightly to my chest as we left the room and went to check out. It didn't take very long, and soon I was sitting in the back seat of Q's SUV in between the tiger and Zechs, staring at the green numbers on the clock that read 2:43 a.m. Man, I had been out _that _long?

When we arrived at the mansion, I was a little surprised to see Alex standing at the door waiting for us. I watched as Alex and Zechs squared off, exchanging glares when the other wasn't looking, and snickered into the head of the stuffed tiger. Zechs not liking Alex was a really good sign. A really, _really _good sign.

Once we were all in the living room, Alex began. "I'm sorry to have to do this so early in the morning, but I'd like to talk to Duo again so that I can get the freshest version of events that I can." He pulled out a voice recorder and asked me to repeat my description of the accident.

"He wants you to meet him sometime?" Alex asked. "That's perfect—we'll set up a sting and catch him then."

Zechs spoke up. "Let me help you with that operation."

Oops, guess Zechs said the wrong thing because Alex got this totally pissed off look on his face. "Look, Merquise, I told you before that I don't need you telling me how to do my job. We've got specialists in the department that handle this sort of thing all the time and I will be working very close with those individuals to make sure that the operation goes as planned. Got it?"

"Believe me, you'll want my expertise. I know security."

Alex stood up. "And I know my job. Walk me to the door, Duo?" Yeah, that was supposed to be a question, but it came out as a demand. I followed him to the foyer, where he pulled me very close and whispered, "What's up with Merquise?"

Over Alex's shoulder I could see the blond in question standing in the doorway that led to the living room, watching us very closely. "I . . . I don't really know. He's been in a pissy mood since the accident. I'll talk to him about it."

Alex gave me a stern look. "He's not trying anything, is he? I mean, he's not messing with you?"

"No! Jeeze, remember what I said about my non-existent seductive man powers?"

"Yeah, I still have to talk to you about that. I'll see you later. Call me the _second_ that Rankin tries to contact you, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

"Time for bed," Zechs grunted.

Quatre gave him a look and handed me my tiger. "Come on, I'll help you get ready."

Upstairs in the bathroom, after taking a nice hot shower and washing my hair properly, I sat on the toilet seat while Quatre got my long mane looking the way it was supposed to.

"Someone's in a really bad mood," Quatre commented lightly as he brushed my slightly damp hair.

"Tell me about it. I don't know what crawled up _his _butt. Whatever it is needs to get out," I mumbled into the fake fur on my tiger.

"Jealousy? Alex doesn't do a very good job of hiding the fact that he thinks you're hot."

"Maybe. I'm really gonna talk to him about."

"Good, and tell me in the morning what he said." He finished up, said goodnight and left.

I left the bathroom and put my stuffed tiger on the bed. Just as I was thinking of a possible name for it, out of the corner of my eye I caught the wince that Zechs tried to hide as he brushed his hair.

I went to stand behind the arm chair that he was sitting in and reached for the brush. "May I?" I asked super politely because I knew how sensitive of a topic hair could be.

Slowly he handed it over and I went to work. "So, what's going on?"

" . . . I don't know what you're talking about."

I was quickly learning that that was his response for just about everything.

"Yes, you do. You've been in a really bad mood since the accident. Is it because of your car? I mean, I know that it was really sweet and probably really expensive—"

"I can always get another one."

"That's true. So . . ."

"I was . . . I didn't . . ." He sighed out of frustration.

"What? Go on, you can say it." I brought my finders through his hair. Nice and soft and shiny and silky.

"I was . . . I was angry with myself. I should've driven better, If something had happened to you—"

"But nothing did. We both came out of there pretty damn good, with what . . . some bruised ribs and mild abrasions? That's nothing compared to what we got during war time."

"Yes, but—"

"No buts, unless you're talking about mine."

"You're insane."

"I know. Thanks." I set the brush aside and felt up his hair one last time. "There, all done."

And then IT happened.

I started to walk away, but Zechs gently took hold of my wrist. I turned to face him and, as he got up out of the seat and came closer to me, I knew what he was going to do. I knew, and I wanted it so much that I met him half way.

He kissed me.

On the lips.

YES, he KISSED me and NO, this is not a dream like in the soap operas, okay?

The kiss . . .

It was so soft and gentle at first, but then he pressed his body against mine and took my face in his hands and from then on it was like the world would be ending at any moment and this was our last chance to get it on before the world went to hell.

His tongue slipped into my mouth, his hands went up into my hair and his body tried its best to become one with mine, and I returned every bit of the passion, with one of my hands on his butt and the other in his hair and—

The door opened and in came Quatre, saying, "Duo, you should take some of these pain killers WHOOPS! Sorry!" We jumped apart and Zechs stalked over to the other side of the room.

I gave Quatre the most _evil _look that I could muster. "Just leave them in the bathroom, okay? And quickly. If you take your time, I will _so_ hurt you."

"Eep!" The pills were tossed onto the bed and in a flash, he was gone, slamming the door behind him. I locked it, took a deep breath, and turned around to face Zechs, who was busy brooding in the corner of the room.

"Sorry bout that, I really shoulda locked the door."

"It doesn't matter. It won't happen again."

Okay, what? He'd practically sucked my lungs up my throat, and it _wasn't going to happen again_. Not if I had anything to say about it. "And just why not?"

"This is a job, Duo, and—"

"Oh, don't give me that lame crap about this being a job. If you like me, Zechs, which I'm pretty damn sure that you do, then you'll have even more of a reason to keep me safe from Rankin."

" . . ."

I narrowed my eyes. "Or is that just an excuse? Are you _afraid _of something?"

" . . ."

"Don't just stand there, talk to me!"

" . . ."

At that moment it was apparent that I was just talking to myself, which frustrated me to no end. Why did I always have to fall for the guys who didn't want to talk about anything, especially their feelings? "What the hell is your problem?" I demanded crossly. I know, probably not the best thing to say, but I was red hot mad. "What's got you so freaked out?"

Zechs' eyes flashed angrily. "I'm not _freaked out_, and I'm not scared of anything. This is my job, Duo, and nothing more. It can't get personal."

"A bit too late for that, don't you think? And let's get something straight—_you _kissed _me_, buddy, not the other way around. You've got some sort of hang up—"

"Don't presume that you know _anything_ about me," Zechs said dangerously. "Because you don't. You don't know a damn thing—"

I gapped at him incredulously. "Of course I don't! But that's not my fault! I try to get you to talk to me, I do everything to get your attention—I spend an extra hour on my hair, I talk a lot about everything and nothing at all, I squeeze my ass into tight jeans and shirts just about every day when I usually slum around in sweats and a dirty t-shirt—all of that for you, you jerk!"

"I never asked you to do any of that."

"Oh, maybe you didn't, but you sure enjoyed it, didn't you? Like I don't know that you're been staring at my ass when you think I'm not looking! You want me, Merquise, but for whatever strange reason that you've concocted in your head, you're determined to stay away, and it is _not _because _this is a job_. So, when you're ready to admit it—that you like me—then we can pick up where we left off. But don't jerk me around and give me mixed signals, okay?" I grabbed up a blanket and a pillow and stormed out of the room.

I threw open the door to Quatre and Trowa's bed room, where thankfully they weren't doing anything freaky, but had just been about to get into bed.

"Quatre, can I stay in here tonight?" I asked, still fuming.

His mouth was hanging open. "Ahhh . . . okay . . ."

"Then I have to stay here too."

I turned around a glared at Zechs. "What are you doing here? Go away."

Zechs' fists clenched at his side. "I'm not going anywhere—I'm still your bodyguard. You're not staying here unless I am."

"Fine, whatever. Then Quatre and I will sleep in the study since no one can get in or out of there without passing through this room first." I snatched the blankets off of Q's bed too and dragged him into the study where I very forcefully slammed the door.

I began making a pallet for us to sleep on, careful to avoid Q's gaze.

"Okay, what the _fuck_ is going on?" Quatre asked, eyes wide and mouth open. "One minute you two were sucking face, and the next you're at each other's throats!"

"I don't want to talk about that man, Quatre. I hate him."

"No you don't." He pointed to something that was lying on the floor next to my pillow. There lay the tiger, its glassy eyes staring up at me as if it were about to start crying. Oh, fuck, when had I grabbed _that_?

I sank to the floor and clutched it to my chest. Quatre was right—I didn't hate him. I couldn't hate him.

"What _happened_?"

That was a hard question to answer, so I said the only thing that I could.

"I don't know."

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note:** Sorry for any errors of any kind, but I was doing this while I was supposed to be studying, so I didn't really have time to look it over. I'll come back and do it later this weekend. Please review.


	13. Wufei to the Rescue

**Author's Note: **The tests are over, and now I can go back to doing nothing but reading and writing fanfics and listening to J-Pop. Oh happy day. Also, I don't really like this chapter much either. Feedback would be nice.

**xOxOx**

"Oh Duo . . ." Quatre sat down next to me and put a supportive arm around my shoulders. "What is going on? What did he do?"

"He kissed me!" I exclaimed into the furry head of the tiger.

" . . . yeah, I caught _that _part. I meant, why on earth are you two fighting now?"

"No, you don't get it. _He _kissed _me _and then he got all pissy about it after you left." I sniffled miserably. "He was like, _this isn't going to happen again, this is my job, _blah blah blah, and I've had it! Who does he think he is, huh? He can't keep giving me these mixed signals—it's driving me crazy! Either he wants me or he doesn't."

Quatre sighed warily. "I don't think it's that simple, Duo. Maybe he's just not ready."

"Then _you _tell him that my ass isn't there for his viewing pleasure, kay? He _does _want me, I know it."

"Don't push it. Really." Quatre gave me a very serious, very stern look. "Maybe he just needs some time. If you rush him, then you might scare him away for good, and then where would you be?"

I glared at him. "What are you saying? Are you saying that I'm—"

"Persistent? Overbearing? Annoying?"

"Look now—"

Quatre laughed. "No, what I'm saying is that you can be a little . . . pushy at times. Maybe Zechs really _is_ scared, but pestering him isn't going to help."

"I just . . . I was just _so mad _at him for kissing me and then pushing me away," I moaned miserably.

"I know. But still, I think you should apologize to him tomorrow morning."

I stared at the blond. Always the voice of reason. Kind of annoying, if you ask me. "I ain't apologizing to him! I want him to think about it. And he will, cuz that was one damn good kiss, if you ask me, and then maybe he'll come around."

Quatre shrugged and threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. If you want to be stubborn, go right ahead. But don't come crying to me if you mess around too long and end up pushing Zechs away."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I settled down on the pallet.

**xOxOx**

Well, needless to say, the climate in the mansion the next morning after Q and Tro had left for work was not the most pleasant ever. Zechs and I didn't say a damn thing to each other as I tried my best to flip some pancakes without messing them up. He just sat in his usual chair in the kitchen with his face buried in the morning newspaper as if nothing at all had happened last night. It ticked me off, but I remembered what Q said the previous night and didn't mention it.

Once my 'pancakes' were done cooking, I grabbed a big jug of syrups to drown away the taste of my own sorry cooking along with a pitcher of orange juice and plastic cup and went into the living room where I sat on the floor in front of the big flat screen TV and turned it on. I dribbled a butt load of maple goodness onto the 'pancakes' and began to much away. I was vaguely aware of the fact that Zechs had slid into the room behind me and was now on the couch, but I just ignored him. Yeah, buddy, two could play that game.

I hate watching the news, because the people never really can get their stories right, but something on channel 10 news caught my attention as I channel surfed.

"—Gregory Weston, involved in a bitter divorce case was arrested this morning for, according to the police, hiring a man to kill his wife," a rather uptight woman was saying. "Weston is on the board of trustees of the Tonik Corporation, which is owned by ex-Gundam pilot and multi-billionaire business tycoon Quatre Winner. Unfortunately, he was unavailable for a comment—"

I winced. Oops. Quatre had to be _hopping _mad about this—he _hated _scandals. Oh well. Apparently the lady wasn't dead, and they were still making their fabulous shampoo, so really, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, all things considered. Woulda been a cry thing shame to see that shampoo discontinued.

I thought about giving Q a call, but then the doorbell rang and I figured that it could be him. I got up and went for the door, but Zechs beat me to it and carefully opened it, with one had already reaching for the gun at his hip.

"Don't shoot—it's just me," Wufei grunted grumpily as he came into the house with hands, one free and one clutching a brown paper bag, up in the air.

"You came baring gifts!" I snatched the bag out of his hand and opened it. Umm . . . fresh breakfast from a fast food joint. "For me?"

"Yes. Quatre was concerned about what you were eating since, according to him, you all ran out of donuts," Wufei said. He and Zechs followed me back into the living room. I dropped to the floor and pushed aside my crappy cooking. I munched happily on a sausage biscuit and hash browns.

Wufei coughed.

I continued to eat.

He coughed again, this time a bit more forcefully.

I changed the channel and took a big bite of a hash brown.

Wufei practically barked, and I turned around to look at him. "What? Do you need a cough drop or something? Should I do the Heimlich?"

Wufei sighed exasperatedly. "No! Some of that was for _him_!" He jerked his thumb at Zechs.

Oh. Well, that's all he had to say, not cough up his lung. I took out what I thought my share of the food was and slid the bag with the other stuff over to Zech's feet. Then I turned my back to them both and ignored them.

"A word, Merquise. Now." Wufei dragged Zechs off to the corner of the room.

I rolled my eyes. Yes, _real _discrete, Fei. Like I didn't know that they were talking about me. I turned up the TV to drown out the sound of their hushed conversation.

It seemed like forever before they separated. Wufei came up to me and knelt down, then dropped something down into my lap. "Here."

I looked down—there was another small disk. My face screwed up in a scowl. "I don't want to hear anything that he has to say, alright?"

"Don't be stupid. Just listen to it, damn it." He stood up, grunted a goodbye and then promptly and unceremoniously left.

Why on earth did I have a sneaking suspicion that Wufei knew a lot more about what was going down between me and Zechs than he should have? An impromptu food drop off was very fishy, and almost immediately he'd pulled Zechs over to the side . . .

I put the disk into my pocket and chewed thoughtfully on the last bit of my biscuit. I wasn't sure whether or not I should listen to it or not . . . hmm. The damn thing had been in my pocket for less than five minutes and already it was burning a whole in it worse than a single cred had in my street days, and the simple fact that Wufei had been acting suspicious made me even more curious.

I glanced over my shoulder. Zechs was rummaging through the paper bag, his face void of any emotion. I would most certainly get no hint about the subject of his conversation with Wufei from him.

I guess I would listen to the disk. Later.

**xOxOx**

I was totally right about Quatre. I could hear him ranting and raving about what the news stations had labeled the 'Tonik Controversy' even before he got into the house, and when he _was _inside, it was even worse.

He was on the phone talking . . . um, let me correct that, _ranting _at someone, using words that I never thought I'd hear him say. A piece of string cheese hung out of my mouth as I let it fall wide open—Quatre was on a rampage.

Trowa had his head on the kitchen table, probably because he'd heard about it all day. Zechs was just sitting there with the damn newspaper (which he had been 'reading' all day), using it to cover up the fact that he was amused by Quatre's behavior.

"No, _sorry is not going to cut it, damn it_!" Quatre was barking. "Does he realize that this reflects badly on me _personally_! I do _not _need another reason for the media to be hounding me, and if I find out that he—WHAT! He was doing _what_! EMBELZLLING from the company to fund the HIT MAN!"

The sting cheese fell onto the table. Oh, this was really bad now. I got out of the chair, took the phone from Quatre and hung it up for him. Then I led him to a seat at the kitchen table. "Calm down, Quatre, before you have a heart attack at a young age just like all of those other over-worked, over-stressed suits. Let the police handle this."

"I just can't do it all," he moaned. "I can't watch over all of these different corporations all the time! This guy has been taking money from Tonik for years and I never even knew! What am I going to do?"

Trowa lifted his head. "Quatre. Leave. It. To. The. Police. Let them do their jobs-that's why we pay taxes, okay? You don't have to do anything other than release an official statement to the press. Leave it alone."

The blond pouted. "Fine. Fine. I think I need to unwind." He got this devious look on his face. "Trowa, hot tub, _now_."

Trowa reluctantly let Quatre drag him away. "Sex-a-holics," I snorted and slurped up the rest of my string cheese. Zechs just ruffled the newspaper and didn't say anything.

I sighed heavily. I got up from my chair and approached the fridge, yanking the newspaper out of Zech's hand as I walked past—and deposited the thing right in the trash can. I opened the fridge and began rummaging around for something to eat. Nothing but funny smelling leftover Chinese . . . hmm, hard to tell if it was spoiled or not . . .

"I was reading that," Zechs grunted.

"No you weren't," I replied, keeping my back to him. "Unless you read like, I don't know, one word an hour or something."

" . . ."

"Stop hiding from me," I told him, whirling around and glaring at him. He just stared back. "I'm not going anywhere, bud, so you're going to have to face me sometime."

"I'm not hiding from you, Duo."

"Oh. Sorry, looked that way to _me_."

We were saved from another argument by the phone ringing. I refused to answer it, on the chance that the caller could be either Rankin or Relena—and right then, I wasn't sure which one was worse. So Zechs got off of his behind and got it.

"Hello?" A tense and slightly annoyed look appeared on the man's face. "Ah, Detective Benito, have you and your men found anything _yet_, or must I come over there and get the place into shape?"

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, this was one guy who really had no business claiming that he didn't want me,

"No? Well, my offer remains on the table. What do you want? Oh, you think you've found the van? Hmm, what else have you found out? Never mind, Duo and I will come in—this line may be tapped." Zechs hung up the phone without a further word and basically ordered me to get my shoes on and my butt into Q's SUV, which we had to borrow until Zech's replacement sex machine arrived.

The car ride, as you can imagine, was excruciatingly tense. How stupid had I been to have an argument with a dude that would be around me twenty four hours a day, seven days a week? But I was too stubborn to take Quatre's advice right at that moment and make up with him—I could only wonder if what I'd said had gotten into his head. Hopefully he'd made up his mind about whether or not he _really _wanted me . . . and hopefully he _did._

Alex was waiting for us in the lobby of the precinct. He looked exhausted with bags under his eyes, wrinkled and slightly dirty clothes and a giant mug of coffee in his hand. After gracing Zechs with a hard look, Alex draped an arm over my shoulder and led me to an interrogation room with Zechs following closely behind.

"Sit down," Alex grunted. He dropped warily into his own seat.

"Dude, you look like shit," I said. "You must be working really hard on this."

"Yeah, well, this is a high priority case," he muttered as he downed a bunch of coffee. "We've got a murderer loose in the city and there's no telling who he'll kill next. We need him off the streets."

"Right, just don't over work yourself. So what have you found?" I asked curiously.

"We located the van. It was abandoned on the side of the road not too far from the scene of the accident."

"How did he get it?" Zechs demanded. "Was it stolen?"

"Ah, no, it wasn't. It was from a rental car agency," Alex said. "Someone charged the rental to a credit card that was reported stolen only hours after the transaction occurred."

"Like the cyber café in London," I murmured thoughtfully. So this person, who ever he or she was, was no longer on the other side of the Atlantic, but right in my backyard. Scary.

"Exactly," said Alex. "We were able to get a surveillance video that recorded the rental, and we're pretty sure that it _wasn't _David Rankin unless he magically shrunk a couple of inches, but there really wasn't much that we could use to identify the person with, so—"

"Let us see it," Zechs ordered immediately. "Maybe Duo would be able to recognize this person."

"Like I said, there isn't much—"

I spoke up before an all out brawl occurred. "No, Zechs is r-right. I'd like to see it."

Alex sighed. "Okay. Well, we've also got a composite sketch of this individual from the lady who handled the transaction. Let me get that too."

Once Alex was gone, Zechs said, "Do you have any idea who this could be? Who would want to help Rankin?"

I very well couldn't tell him that I suspected Relena. We didn't need another fight on our hands. "That's a damn good question that, unfortunately, I really don't have the answer to."

"Any enemies? Anyone you've angered lately?"

Oh, besides _you_? "Look, during the war I killed a hell of a lot of people, some, I'm sure, who were quite innocent. So yes, I probably have a lot of enemies out there who would like nothing more to see me dead. But then again, my website pulls in millions of fans, so . . ."

Alex came back with a television and slid a drawing over to me as he hooked it up. Zechs leaned in close (damn, no matter how mad I was at the guy, he was still _fine _as hell) and together we studied the sketch.

"Er . . . Alex?" I asked, turning the paper sideways and then upside down. I held it far away from me, then brought it close, then squinted at it with one eye and then the other, but still I just couldn't figure it out. "Is this supposed to be a man or a woman?"

Alex snickered and sat down in his chair. "Good question. The woman wasn't really sure. Said the person's voice was strange and raspy, and as you can see, you really couldn't tell just by looking."

Just great. Well, hopefully the surveillance video would help. "Okay, play the sucker."

The three of us watched as a hooded individual came into the rental store wearing baggy pants and a baggy sweatshirt, so it was hard to tell if beneath those clothes were a pair of breasts or not. The person didn't look to be very tall, probably no taller than me, so it could've been a woman or a pathetically short guy like me. Now, as the person stepped up to the counter, all we could see was the back of his/her/it's head. He/she/it stood there for about ten minutes, then turned away with keys in hand, but the hood blocked the face from view. And that was it.

"Well. That wasn't really helpful," I moped.

Alex sent Zechs an 'I told you so' look. "That's what I said. I'm sorry, but we don't have anything else to go on."

"Fingerprints?" Zechs asked, eyes narrow. "On the door handle paperwork, a pen, the credit card, something."

Alex gritted his teeth. "No. Prints. Whoever this is wasn't stupid. They coated their hands and fingers in a latex-like substance so that anything we picked up was no good."

I sat up a little straighter. "So then this person's been around the block a couple of times, so to speak," I interjected before Zechs and Alex started hissing at each other. "I mean, this person was smart enough and knew exactly what to do to cover their tracks."

"Presumably. We're doing the best that we can with what we've got," Alex said to me, ignoring Zech completely. "This person knows what they're doing—unless they slip up, we're going to have a hard time finding out who this is."

I nodded. "I know you're doing all that you can. It's fine."

"Thank you for understanding. Has Rankin contacted you yet about a possible meeting place and time?"

"No. But when he does, I'll let you know immediately. And Zechs can record the phone conversation so that you guys will be able to hear exactly what he said."

"Good. I will ignore the slight illegality of the tap, tracer and recorder on the phone for the sake of catching the bastard. That's all we have. Unless you have anything else you'd like to talk about?"

I shook my head and we all got to our feet. I stared at Alex for a while. Poor guy, here he was putting in a hell of a lot of overtime for me, and he looked like a total wreck. I gave him a quick hug and said, "Try to get some sleep, okay? You won't be able to catch Rankin if you collapse from exhaustion in mid-chase."

Alex smiled at me, and he looked a little better as he did so. "I'll try. Stay out of trouble."

Once Zechs and I were in the car and on our way back to the mansion, I said, "Will you lay off of the guy a bit? He's doing his job the best way that he can."

"I'm just trying to make sure that the police don't miss anything, Duo. For your sake."

For my sake? "So you _do _care about me."

Zech's hands gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter. "I never said that I didn't."

**xOxOx**

After _that _comment, I was anxious to get back to the mansion and listen to the disk that was still in my pocket, but once Zechs and I had final returned, Quatre ushered us to the pool house before we could get inside.

"We've got some men doing some work in your room, Duo, and we think it would be best if you stayed away," Quatre said. "We're having that balcony door replaced so that it won't be so easy for someone to get _inside _from the _outside_."

I sat on the couch and rested my head on the back of it. "Er, I wasn't aware of any of this. When did you get this idea in your head?"

"While Trowa and I were . . . um, _relaxing _in the hot tub, I thought I saw something or someone walking around outside. Trowa went to look around, but he didn't see anything." Quatre sighed. "Well, better to be safe than sorry, I figured."

Zechs nodded. "That was a good idea."

"I thought so." Quatre began to leave, but before he did, he asked, "Do you guys need anything? It might be a while."

"Oh! Hey, can you bring my laptop and my earphones please?" I asked quickly. In ten minutes I had the thing up and running in my lap. With a quick glance over my shoulder (Zechs was sitting in the small kitchen reading another newspaper), I inserted the disk and pushed play.

_"What the hell is going on, Merquise? It would take a Gundam to cut through the tension in this room."_

_"I don't know what you're talking about."_

_"Is that your response to everything?"_

_" . . . Duo . . ." Quiet chuckling. "He said something like that to me once . . ."_

_"Oh, so his has something to do with Duo?"_

_"Of course.__ But you already knew that."_

_"Maybe, maybe not.__ Look, I'm just going to come out and say it—this fight, argument, squabble whatever that you two are having is stupid and frankly, quite dangerous. We cannot afford to have the two of you at odds with each other at a time like this."_

_"I know that."_

_"Then what the hell is the problem?"_

_"What do you know about the situation?"_

_"You kissed Duo. And then you ran away like a frightened girl."_

_" . . . I will not ask how you knew that, but I did not **run away**. I was being sensible—this is a job and becoming romantically involved with Duo is not a good idea."_

_"I'll tell you what isn't a **good idea**. Trying to get in the way when Duo wants something isn't a good idea. _

_"Getting in the way of Duo period is a bad idea."_

_" .__ . . what does that mean, Merquise? Do you wish that you'd never taken this job, never met Duo? Because if that's true, then you should pack your bags now and—"_

_"No. Of . . . of the few things that I do not regret in my life, meeting Duo is one of them."_

_" . . ."_

_"Are you feeling alright? Your face is purple."_

_"What? Er, I'm fine, just fine. But you, Merquise, are an idiot."_

_" .__ . . excuse me?"_

_"I **said **that you're an idiot. You want him."_

_"I never denied that. It was **his **assumption that I did not."_

_"And did you try to clarify that?"_

_" .__ . . no."_

_"Like I said, an idiot."_

_"Maybe so."_

_"I'll give you a piece of advice, something that Heero likes to say, because you seem to be conflicted between listening to your head and your heart. Act on your emotions. That's the only way to live."_

_"A bit hypocritical, isn't it Chang? Shouldn't you take that advice for yourself?"_

_"I'm working on it. Besides, what the hell do you think I'm doing right now? I'm not talking to you because I **like **you or anything."_

_". . . point taken."_

_"So what I'm saying is to stop listening to whatever your brain is telling you to do concerning Duo, because it is, as he would say, screwing everything up."_

_"I will take your advice and consider it."_

_"Thank you."_

_"But can I ask you a question? Why are you doing this, encouraging me? Yuy would be less than happy about this if he found out."_

_"Let's just say . . . well, really, that's none of your business. Just understand this—Duo has thrown away most of his masks, Merquise, and so should you."_

Well. Zechs hadn't been the _only _idiot, that's for sure. I shouldn't have blown up at him like that. Maybe he _wasn't _ready for a relationship, maybe he _did _need some time. I sat the laptop on the table and tossed off the ear phones.

Zechs was still at the kitchen table engrossed in the same newspaper as the one I'd thrown away earlier that day. I crossed the room and yanked it from in front of his face.

"I was _reading_ that."

"I'm sorry!" I exclaimed before he could continue.

"Duo—"

"No, let me finish." I stared him straight in the eyes. "It was stupid of me to push you last night, okay? I was being sort of selfish. I'd been feeling so lonely before you showed up, and then you got here and you were just so very handsome and just everything that I'd always looked for in a man . . . I wanted you, and I didn't even think about how you were feeling about the whole thing. I didn't—"

I took a deep breath. "So, I'm sorry. I won't push you again. If you need some time, then I can wait. And if . . . if you'd rather wait to have something with me when this Rankin thing is over, then I can wait on that too. And . . . ah, if you don't want anything with me at all, then I'd have to call you crazy, but if that's the case, then I will just back off. So just let me know and I'll . . . well."

I looked at Zechs, who just sat there in the chair staring at me. I shifted nervously, thinking that he _didn't _want me, and that I was about to get rejected, have my heart stomped on . . .

Zechs slowly got out of his seat and stood in front of me. His hands came to rest on my shoulders, our eyes locked, my heart began to pound and—Zechs leaned in and kissed me, not innocently like the other kiss had begun, but fierce and rough and full of the passion that he held for me.

I found myself being pushed back against the kitchen counter, one of Zech's hands roaming down my back and to my butt, and the other buried deep in my hair. Mine became tangled in his white blond mane, and my legs began hooking themselves around his.

Zechs' lips trailed down my neck and found a very nice spot, and I could do nothing other than moan. I brought my right hand down his back, underneath his shirt and across the warm skin on his back. The other hand slid across the leather on his belt and to his buckle—

"Okay guys, everything is WHOOPS!" Quatre stood in the living room with wide eyes. Zechs and I pulled apart and straightened our hair and clothes.

"Quatre, I _swear_, you have the worst timing," I grunted, giving him a very, very, very dirty look as I tugged on my shirt. "Learn how to knock."

"Really, I'm sorry guys." A goofy grin blossomed on Quatre's face. "So . . . you guys aren't fighting anymore."

I felt Zechs' hand on the small of my back. "Oh really? I hadn't noticed. See, we weren't fighting with words, fists, or Gundams, but our tongues sure were. I think I was winning before you so rudely burst into the room."

"I will have to dispute _that_," Zechs said good-naturedly.

"Oh, yes we will," I purred, imagining all of the future 'tongue fights' that we would be having. Umm, couldn't wait. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances later."

And much to my pleasure, Zechs nodded.

Quatre's goofy grin widened. "Great! Fantastic! Ah . . . I think this merits a celebration. The door guys are gone, so let's order a bunch of food, get some movies and have a good time."

"Sounds good to me," I said with a smile. "There's this thing I wanted to watch called _Underneath the Covers_. Maybe we can get that . . ."

"Duo!" Quatre cried, giving me a weird look.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Isn't that . . . a _porno_ flick?"

"Yeah. And? I've heard that it is very . . . _profound_. Hey—how'd you know that anyway?"

" . . . um, never mind."

**xOxOx**

"I assume, Duo, that everything is back to normal over there, since you're calling me," Wufei said dryly.

I turned my back to Quatre, Zechs and Trowa, who were all in kitchen, gathering everything that we needed for our movie night. "Yeah, everything is just great. Thanks, Fei. But you didn't have to do that, you know."

"Yes I did."

"Why do you say that?" I looked over my shoulder to find Zechs staring at me. I winked at him and gave him a small sexy smile, which he returned tenfold. My heart turned to mush.

" . . . I owed you, didn't I?"

"Oh. That."

"Yes, _that_."

"Well, you're free and clear now. You've done enough."

"Good. Talking to that man is like pulling teeth."

"Ain't that the truth. Thanks again."

"Anytime, Duo. Anytime."

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Please review, let me know what you guys think. Thanks.


	14. When Sisters Come to Visit

**Author's Note: **Well, I took the rant out of here because this 'Bonus Wish' person probably wouldn't see it in this chapter. But believe me, it _will _be back in the next chapter. All I have to say for now is that Relena is not a god to be placed on a pedestal, and that I could've made her worse by making her put dye in Duo's shampoo, pepper in his hot chocolate or cut up all of his boxers but I didn't, did I? No. Don't get me wrong, I can take criticism (I have recieved some for this fic) but rediculous criticism about Relena being the lilly white and holy and unable to do anything wrong is just unacceptable.

More to come later.

**Did you all check out the side fic?**

In case you missed it, pop on over to my author page and read it (Interlude I No Regrets) **_before_** this chapter, or you might be a little confused. Please review that story too.

**xOxOx**

It was about two months before we heard another peep out of Rankin, and in that time, Zechs and I quietly worked on our relationship. Not very many people knew about it—Quatre did, of course, because he'd walked in on us those two times (but thankfully after that, he'd learned how to knock). He was very supportive of us, and he always grinned like a fool when he saw us together. He was happy for me, and I was really thankful for that.

Then there was Trowa, who either kinda figured it out along the way or heard of it from his boyfriend. At first he wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Mostly he was concerned about Zechs' ability to do his job, but other than that, he didn't seem to mind. But of course, since he likes to think that he's my big brother or something, he pulled Zechs to the side early on and had a little 'heart to heart,' and since then, everything was fine.

I assume that Wufei had some kind of idea about what was going on between the two of us before we actually got around to telling him in words, because technically he was the one who got us together, but he hasn't said a word to us about anything at all. Whenever he and Heero were around, Zechs and I were careful to control ourselves. I don't think Heero suspected a thing.

But it was _soooo _hard to keep our hands off of each other. We would 'accidentally' brush hands, I would place a hand on his arm, we would sit close to each other on the couch, and on movie nights we'd grown accustomed to snuggling up together ever since that horror flick. It was nice, really nice.

Besides those things, the touching and all, our relationship hadn't gotten that far. We'd found a favorite place to make out—on the couch in the living room, and while Q and Tro were out at work, he and I would have a grand time there. Things never went _too _far, though—we'd gotten close to doing the deed a couple of times, but either he'd pull back, or I would, or we _both _would and it would end right there.

So now we were on our favorite couch, with me practically draped across his lap, sucking face like there was no tomorrow. And then the phone rang. I growled and grabbed the phone, dropping my body across Zech's lap. "Yeah, who is it?"

"Duo, it's me, Quatre."

Insert a really big sigh here. "What did I tell you about bad timing?" I asked, giving Zechs a look.

I could almost hear him blush. ". . . oh, sorry. But look, this is important. Heero is headed your way."

"Ooooookay . . . and?"

"He _knows_!"

I sat up very quickly. "He _what_!"

"Duo . . ." Zechs mumbled.

I ignored him. This was just too important. "How the hell did he find out?"

"I—Wufei and I were in the break room talking, um . . . about you and Zechs . . ."

_"Duo . . ."_ Zechs went again.

"Later," I said to him. "And he over heard you!"

"Well, yes. I'm sorry, we tried to catch him before he got into his car but—"

"Duo!"

"What?" I demanded, turning to him.

He pointed down, where the heel of my hand was digging into his . . . ahem, package. I pulled my hand back like it was on fire and began patting at his crotch, saying, "Damn, I'm sorry Zechs! Is it okay? Please tell me its okay!"

He swatted my hand away and got up. "I . . . need to take a walk."

"Duo? Hello? Anyone there? Oh no, Trowa, I think he's gone . . ."

"No!" I exclaimed into the phone. "I'm here, I'm here. So Heero got into his car. And he's coming here?"

"Presumably," Quatre said.

"When did he leave?"

"About five minutes ago. Wufei went after him in our car, so he should be there soon."

Heero had left five minutes ago. It would take any normal person a good half hour to get to the mansion from there, a little more or less depending on traffic. But this wasn't a normal person I was dealing with here—this was _Heero Yuy5 . . ._ which meant that I had five more minutes _at the most_.

"Duo? What are you going to do?"

"I dunno, I dunno. Look, I'll talk to you later. Bye."

I got up and found Zechs standing in the kitchen with a donut in his hand. "We have to hide you."

He stopped mid-bite and said, "What?"

I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him into the foyer, looking around frantically. "You have to _hide_! Heero found out about us and he's on his way over here _right now_! Where can I hide you? How about the closet?"

He chuckled and took a big bite out of his snack. "I haven't been back in the closet in years."

"Yeah, well maybe its time to take a little visit." I began shoving him further back into the house.

He refused to budge. "Duo. I am not afraid of Heero Yuy. You know that I can hold my own against him."

True, true. "Well, fine. Whatever. But let me answer the door, because I'm afraid that if he sees your face, he will swing first and ask questions later and—"

The doorbell rang. It was Heero.

I forced Zechs into the living room and went to the door. "H-hey Heero," I said, opening the door cautiously.

He stepped in, hands balled up at his fist and eyes narrowed. "Duo. What is this I'm hearing about you and Merquise being in a relationship? Is it true?"

Man, no beating around the bush, huh? "Er . . . yes?"

He shifted as if he wasn't sure what to do with himself. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I gestured nervously to his hands. "Because of that! I knew that you'd be pissed off, and I was afraid that you'd hit Zechs in the face, and well, that would just be a crime against humanity to deprive society of such a handsome thing, and I thought that you were done committing those now that the war is over and—"

"Don't be stupid. I'm not going to hit him."

Huh. Didn't look that way to me. "How was I supposed to know? You sure wanted to even before he and I had anything together."

Heero's face scrunched up. "That is true. But I have been talking to Wufei about this bodyguard situation and I have worked through those feelings and put them aside because I realize that it is the best thing to keep you safe."

Well, _that _sounded rehearsed. But then again, this was Heero we were talking about. "But you know . . . um, since Zechs and I are together now," I said slowly, "he will be doing a lot more than being my bodyguard."

"I know. You will be kissing."

I blinked rapidly. He'd said this very simply, and I couldn't help but wonder what 'kissing' was to him. Was it just like a peck on the lips, or an all out tongue assault like Zechs and I preferred. I didn't know, because Wufei and Heero weren't very public about their relationship. And I really _didn't _want to know. Ew.

"Yes, kissing . . . but, ah, probably more than that in the future."

Heero didn't like this. He pressed his lips together tightly. "More? You mean sex?"

Oh god I hoped so. "Well . . . yeah . . ."

"Has he—have _you_ . . . what—"

I sighed. "Oh, come on Heero! Don't be a prude. You know what I'm talking about because I caught you and Wufei going at it, remember?"

"I—"

"I know the three of you—Trowa, Wufei and you—I know you guys like to think that I'm your little brother and that you have to watch over me all the time," I told him as softly and gently as I could. "But I'm going to grow up some time, and I'm going to get into a serious relationship, which will probably involve doing it. You're just going to have to get used to the idea."

Heero took this in and then nodded his head once. "I understand. I will not hit Merquise, but I would like to talk to him."

"He's already heard the big bro spiel from Trowa," I said for Zech's sake.

"You mean even _he _knows about this? Everyone but me?" He looked annoyed.

"Well yes everyone knew but you." I couldn't tell him how Wufei knew. That would only cause trouble between the two. "I begged Wufei not to tell you. Don't be angry with him."

"I am more upset that you felt that you could not tell me about this."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. We didn't _tell _anyone, they all found out by accident, and I guess you're no different. Don't feel bad, okay?"

He grumbled something inaudible. "You still should have told to me."

"So that you could rip off his balls and shove them down his throat?" I asked with a grin. "I don't think so. I'd like those to stay exactly where they are, thank you very much."

"I want to talk to him. Where is he?"

I sighed in defeat. Here we go. "In the living room." I led him in where Zechs was sitting confidently on the couch. Heero forced me into a far corner of the room while they conversed quietly amongst themselves. I made faces at them the entire time they talked, until Heero gave me a nasty face of his own.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Heero got up and prepared himself to leave. "Remember what I said, Merquise. I'll be watching you. If you hurt him in any way . . ." He thought about what to say next, and then smirked. "I'll rip off your balls and shove them down your throat."

"Heero!" I cried.

"You said it, not me."

Suddenly the front door burst open and Wufei came rushing in, breathing deeply with his cell phone up to his ear. He looked around, saw that no one was decapitated, gutted or even bleeding, and said, "Oh. So I can cancel that 911 call then?"

**xOxOx**

Now all of the guys were filled in on my relationship with Zechs. Quatre seemed to think that this was cause for celebration, and invited Wufei and Heero over for a night of take out and a movie. It kind of annoyed me because I wasn't sure if Zechs and I would be able to do our usual cuddle up thing in peace, but I would just have to go with the flow and see what happened.

Once we were all gathered at the mansion, the first order of business was to determine what we were going to order. Chinese won over Italian, and in a half an hour we were lugging big brown paper bags and giant bottles of soda up to Quatre's room. We all settled down, Q and Tro on the bed as usual, Zechs and I on the floor in front of the television, and Fei and Heero were on the love seat. The movie started (another horror one, just so that I could have an excuse to get close to Zechs), and the only sounds were the TV and the sound of people eating.

I sat wide eyed as a ghost floated on screen behind the main character. Zechs scooted closer and, much to my surprise, pulled me up against him. I heard choking noises coming from either Wufei or Heero, but I couldn't tell which. They started whispering, and I was about to turn around to tell them to shut up when I heard something ring.

"What's that?" I asked.

"What's what?" Quatre sat up on the bed.

I heard the ringing again. "_That_. What _is _it?"

Trowa laughed. "What did I say about scary movies? Sounds like the phone in your room."

I jumped to my feet. What if it was Rankin? I ran out of the room and across the hall and into my room, where I practically leapt into the air to catch the phone. "Hello!"

Zechs sat down and put the earphones onto his head. The others filed into the room curiously.

"Duo."

I was right. It was him. "Hello R-David. How are you today?" I forced some happiness into my voice.

"My day would be better if you were here."

Gag. "I know, but it's been months and you haven't told me where I can meet you." I saw Zech's appreciative nod out of the corner of my eye. "So, ah, have you picked a time and a place yet?"

"I have."

"Okay . . . where and when? I'll be there."

" . . . I can't tell you now. I don't . . . _trust _this phone line."

Oh. Hell. I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. "It's fine. You can tell me."

"No. That blond man could be listening in on a wire tap and I don't want to take any chances. I will get in contact with you in another way. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"How . . . sweet. Will you contact me soon? I'd like to meet with you."

I heard him take a deep, raspy breath. Yuck.

"Soon. Soon. Goodbye." The line went dead.

"Damn it!" Zechs exclaimed furiously, his eyes flashing as he almost ripped the head set off and tossed it across the room. "He knows about the tap!"

I sighed warily. "Yeah. He's not that stupid, I guess."

That call pretty much killed the mood, but after filling Alex in on what had happened, we all went back to watch the movie anyway. I didn't even try to focus on it—I just rested my head against Zech's chest and listened to his heart beat. And all was good until the intercom began to chime. Quatre got up and went over to it.

"Hello? Who's this?"

We were all on alert, thinking that it was Rankin, but then an all too familiar and all too _annoying _voice said, "Hello Quatre! Will you please let me in?"

Inside of my head, I spouted out a butt load of bad words and began banging my head against the floor.

Relena was here.

Heero swore loudly in Japanese, and I looked over my shoulder to see him jump to his feet and look around like a deer caught in some headlights. I had a similar feeling because I really didn't want to get into it with her.

"Heero? Is that you?" she continued. "Can I come in?"

Quatre gave Heero a sympathetic look. "Ah, sure."

Quatre opened the gates for her and all six of us when down to greet her. I glanced up at Zech's face o see how he felt about the whole thing, about his sister showing up here, but as I should have suspected, it was totally void of any emotion. I would have to talk to him later that night when we could be in private.

The front door opened and in swept Ms. Pinkie herself with _four_ bodyguards. She gave Quatre a warm smile and a handshake before launching herself at her brother. I just stood back and watched, feeling very much out of place as I worried what her presence meant for my relationship with Zechs.

"Mi-Zechs! Its been so long," she said into his shoulder.

Zechs patted her back. "Only a few months, Relena."

She stepped back and straightened her pink suit and fixed the strand of pearls around her neck. "A few months too long, dear brother." She turned to Heero next and gave him a shy smile. "Hello, Heero. How have you been?"

Heero said stiffly, "I am fine, Relena."

"Oh, that's good." She blushed and looked up at him through lowered eyelids. "I, um, I'd like to talk to you about those very . . . _nice _gifts some time, okay?"

Quatre and I snickered uncontrollably, Wufei looked confused and a little upset, and Zechs asked, "You've been sending gifts to my sister?"

Heero shook his head almost frantically. "I have no idea what you're talking about Relena."

I coughed and said through a bunch of giggles, "I'm sure it is all just a misunderstanding, Heero."

Relena said a brief and neutral hello to Wufei and Trowa, and then when it was my time, she took a deep breath. "And I see that you're still here, despite all of your . . . _problems_."

Okay. I was gonna ignore the fact that she was implying that I had other _problems _besides the stalker business because of the simple fact that I was hoping that her brother would, one day in the future, screw my brains out. "Yep. It'll take more than a raving lunatic to get to Duo Maxwell, that's for sure."

"Ah, Relena," Quatre said in his polite, business like fashion. "As nice as it is to have you here, can I ask why . . ."

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry! I wanted to surprise my brother with a visit, but my plane was supposed to arrive here much earlier," she said. "To my understanding, there were some weather problems or something, so we were delayed. I just got into the city and I just wanted to see him so much . . ."

Yeah, and I wanted to _hurl_ so much, but you didn't see me doing it. A warning call would've been really nice.

"I hope you don't mind," Relena continued. "It's late, and I was hoping that I might be able to stay here tonight?"

I wanted to scream. I really did. But Quatre, being so polite and hospitable, just _had _to say, "Of _course_ you can stay the night. Let me take you to a room upstairs."

Wufei and Heero (the smart and lucky bastards) took this as a signal and made their excuses. In ten seconds they were out of the door, in their car and on their way to freedom. _Take me with you . . . take me with you!_

The bodyguards brought in about ten bags full of stuff (for one night?) and as we all went up the stairs, Relena asked, "Can I stay with my brother tonight? Is that fine?"

Ohhh buddy. She would _not _be happy to hear about the fact that—

"Relena, I sleep in Duo's room."

Zechs was a brave man. Really. Such a brave man.

Relena stopped in the middle of the hallway, and consequentially, so did the rest of us. She slowly turned to look at him. "Excuse me? I don't believe I heard that correctly."

"I sleep in Duo's room. It is safer that way, in case the stalker tries anything, I would be there to stop him."

Relena took a deep breath and fluttered her eyelashes in disbelief. "Oh. Well . . . oh. I see." Uh, no, she didn't, that was obvious. "Well. Well. I, oh, well. I see. Well—"

"Isn't the one next to Duo's free?" Trowa suggested. "How about that?"

Relena nodded. "Yes, that would be nice. Thank you."

I opted to stay in the doorway as everyone else flooded into the room, ensuring that everything was up to the princess' standards. I scoffed as the bodyguards began to put away her things because one, she had two good arms and two good legs and could very well do it herself, and two, if she was only going to be here the _one night_, then she didn't need to unpack in the first place—the later part made me very nervous.

What was she _really _doing here? And how convenient was it that she appears in the area just when Rankin gets his hands on a rental car? But she _said _that she hadn't gotten in until just now, so . . . Unless she sent someone ahead to make the transaction? That was entirely too possible. And now she was here in the house, which gave her the perfect chance to hold a pillow over my face and—

"If you would excuse us," Relena pulled Zechs over to the side. "I would like to speak to my brother alone."

Zechs cleared his throat. "I cannot leave Duo alone, Relena, so he'll have to stay."

"I'll just . . . go into the bathroom." Quatre and Trowa followed me, and the three of us sat there with the fan on, looking, in my opinion, really stupid. After about five minutes, I was getting curious and my butt was getting cold from sitting on the toilet seat. I scooted over to the door and put my ear near the crack. Hey! Can you blame me? More than likely, I was gonna be the topic of the situation, so I might as well know what was being said about me.

"DUO!" Quatre hissed.

"What? I want to know if she's poisoning him against me or something," I said defensively.

Quatre sighed . . . and then joined me by the door.

" . . . come back . . . when . . . over?" This was Relena.

"I . . . know. I . . . like . . . here."

"What about . . . Don't . . . still . . . love—"

LOVE? STILL LOVE WHO! I pressed my ear even closer, and my wide eyes met Quatre's own shocked ones. I guess our startled expressions interested Trowa, because he dropped to the floor and put his ear near the crack too.

" . . . told you . . . after seeing . . . with him."

" . . . wasn't _like _that!" Relena exclaimed loudly.

"Maybe so . . . still would've . . . over anyway. I will not . . . back with . . ."

"Mi-Zechs . . ."

" . . . will always . . . special to me . . . but . . ."

" . . . still loves . . . you."

Oh, hell, I couldn't listen to this anymore. I pushed away from the door and slumped against the sink counter. What did this mean? Zechs had been involved with someone before he left Relena's services? And this person still loved him? Did Zechs . . . did Zechs return those feelings?

Quatre put a supportive hand on my back. "Duo, we didn't hear everything, so don't jump to conclusions. Besides, it sounds like Zechs is through with that other person, so I don't think you have anything to worry about."

That was a little comforting to hear, but I still wasn't too sure.

I guess that's what I get for eavesdropping, huh?

**xOxOx**

Relena was finally tucked in for the night, Tro and Q had gone back to their room and Zechs was sitting on the cot, and I was on the end of it, watching him brush his hair.

The door was locked? Check. Okay.

I leaned in and gently kissed his mouth, taking the brush out of his hand and tossing it onto the floor. He sighed against my lips and fiddled with my braid before pulling away. "We can't," he whispered. "My sister is next door."

"Sorry, sorry. I just . . ." I ran my hands through his hair and smiled. "With Heero here and then your sister coming . . . I'm just accustomed to touching you more, kissing you more. You know."

"I do know."

"I, ah, look, I'll be on my best behavior now that Relena's here," I said. "I promise. I know that this must be very uncomfortable for you, so I won't make it any worse."

"Thank you. I know that she can be difficult at times."

"Yeah."

"And . . . I think it would be best if I slept on the cot tonight."

I frowned—he hadn't slept there since the night of that horror movie. I liked having him in my bed, close to me, protecting me. But despite all that, I _had _promised to be on my best behavior, so I took a really, really, _really _deep breath and said, "Okay. If you think so."

My disappointment must've been written all over my face because he leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on my lips.

"I'll make it up to you later," he said huskily, the sparkles in his eyes telling me that he meant every word of it.

"You'd better, buster." I climbed up into my bed and turned out the light. "Goodnight, Zechs."

"Goodnight Duo."

**xOxOx**

The next morning, it was just me, Zechs and Relena sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast. Trying to pretend that it was just like all of the other mornings even though Relena was here, I piled three donuts, a bunch of grapes and an orange slice onto my plate and filled up a glass of milk. "What would you like, Zechs?"

"Are there any more of those sprinkled donuts?" he asked from behind the morning paper.

I looked at my plate—there was the last one. I sighed dramatically and rolled my eyes, handing it to him. "The things I do . . ."

Relena looked quite appalled at the breakfast we were having. She stood in the middle of the kitchen wearing a bright pink bathrobe over light pink pajamas and her hair was pulled on top of her head with, you guessed it, a _pink _scrunchie thing that girls wear. There was even pink stuff on her face, underneath her eyes and on the bridge of her nose. I wanted to inform her that other colors existed in the universe, but I had promised to _be on my best behavior._

"Is that what you all are eating for breakfast?" She scrunched up her nose.

"Yep," I said, sitting down next to Zechs and taking the section of the paper that had the comics. "Help yourself."

"But . . ." She looked around helplessly. "Doesn't Quatre have a chef?"

"Ah, no. He's a private guy, doesn't want a lot of people all up in his business," I explained.

"But I don't cook," she said blankly.

Hahaha. Then she was going to _starve_. "Join the club, cuz neither do I."

She took one of the donuts and forced herself to eat it. "Oh god, I don't want to see my hips after this," I heard her whisper.

Zechs raised an eyebrow at her. "There _is_ fruit in the refrigerator."

But of course she knew that, because she'd seen me take some out of there just moments earlier. I snickered and buried my face in the funnies section. "You don't have to make excuses if you want to eat a donut."

Her face turned red and she tossed the rest of the treat into the trash can. "What do you know?" Then she dug around for the fruit and sat down on Zech's other side with a bowl full of it. "I asked you, Zechs, whether you were eating properly, and it doesn't look as if you are. What do you usually eat?"

"Take out," he said honestly.

"Take out? Well, that is most certainly _not_ healthy!" she said as she gave her brother a disapproving look. "I will speak to Quatre about getting a chef. If he is screened properly, then I'm sure that there will be no problems. Now, for dinner, I _insist _that something is cooked here in this house."

My mouth fell open. "And . . . ah, just _who _will be doing the cooking?"

She smiled sweetly at me. "_You _are, of course!"

"Me!" I blinked rapidly. "Why _me_?"

"Because Quatre and Mr. Barton are working all day, my dear brother is also working, I am a guest, so it is not _my _place to cook, and you are not doing anything from what I can tell. Therefore the logical conclusion is that you should have to do it."

What the . . . why did she think that she could come into _this _house and tell me what to do? Underneath the table, Zechs squeezed my leg gently, which was good because I probably would've gone off on her if he hadn't. Since I very well couldn't say what I _wanted_ to say to her, I instead let out a sigh and muttered, "Fine. Okay, I'll cook. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Relena clasped her hands together and smiled. "Great! I'm sure that _everything _will be fine!"

**xOxOx**

Later that night, Relena, Quatre, Trowa and Zechs all sat around the kitchen table as I brought out a pan full of spaghetti sauce that I'd made earlier that day. They all had noodles on their plates—_that _had been simple enough to cook, and now it was time for me to dish out the sauce.

Now, don't get this whole thing wrong, okay? Messing up on purpose woulda been way too easy, but I made a _good faith effort _to make this stuff, honestly! The recipe that I'd printed from the internet had looked easy enough, but as I looked down at it, it became quite clear that something had gone wrong.

I grinned and went over to Relena first. I took the ladle, scooped up some of the gunk and slapped it down on her plate like those cafeteria women always did on television and internally cackled wickedly as her face screwed up in horror for a slight second before she remembered her manners.

I went around and gave everyone their helping, and then put some onto my plate.

Quatre poked at one of the meatballs with his fork, looking as if he half expected for it to jump back at him. "Um, is the sauce _supposed _to be this greenish-orangey color?"

How the hell was I supposed to know? I turned to Relena and said, "Why doesn't the guest of honor try it first?"

Relena cautiously took a spoon and sipped at some of the sauce . . . and then she got this totally constipated look—it took all of the willpower in my body not to laugh. "Oh!" She coughed and downed her entire glass of water. "Oh! Well, this is, ah, a very interesting take on spaghetti sauce, Duo. Yes, very . . . _interesting_."

Trowa ate a spoonful and shuddered. "You mean an _utterly disgusting_ take on spaghetti sauce."

Zechs snickered and patted his sister on the back as she continued to cough and shudder.

Since we'd just about reached a consensus that the stuff was just un-eatable, we all pushed aside our plates and just stared at each other.

"Oh, _now _what will we eat?" Relena cried. "It's getting late, how will we—"

Trowa leaned back in his chair and smirked. "Don't worry. The second I heard that Duo was cooking I ordered for some _real _Italian."

**xOxOx**

Relena had been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the take out and ate a heck of a lot of it, while muttering under her breath about having to work out immediately after words the entire time. She'd even asked what the name of the place was and then had ordered one of her people to find out if there was one near the palace.

I was growing a little weary when nightfall came and she still hadn't packed her bags. About then I realized for sure that she had no plans to go anywhere anytime soon. Before Relena had a chance to go upstairs for the night, I pulled Quatre aside and said, "Does she _have _to stay next to me and Zechs? He won't let me touch him with his sister next door."

Quatre frowned. "Well . . . I guess I can do something—"

"Good! Move her—now!"

So Quatre used the fact that this other bedroom way down the hall had a special jet tub and pink striped wallpaper to entice her to move into it, and now Zechs and I were a full three bedrooms away from her.

This seemed to be more acceptable to Zechs, because as soon as I closed my bedroom door, he swept me off of my feet and over to the bed. It bounced horribly and smacked the wall a couple of times as we fell onto it, which made me really thankful that Relena was not next door anymore.

"Whoa there, Daddy! What's gotten into you?"

He began kissing at my neck. "Haven't you heard? Tomatoes are aphrodisiacs." My shirt was gone before I knew it.

I giggled. "They are so _not_!" I considered that for a second, because now he was _really_ going at it. "Um, or are they? Were you being serious?"

"Shut. Up."

Well okay.

We worked hastily on his shirt and flung it into the air, where it caught itself on the ceiling light. Our lips met fiercely and my bare chest arched up to meet his. The passion flowed freely between our bodies. I felt as if I would never get enough of his kiss or his touch—

"Goodnight WHOOPS!" Quatre came into the room, caught sight of us on the bed and back out faster than I could blink. Then he knocked softly and said, "I'm sorry. Can I come in?"

Zechs was chuckling into my shoulder, but I didn't think it was very funny. Here I was, a young and virile handsome man in a relationship with this great guy who had a body to die for and we hadn't done anything below the waist. Yes, I was getting a little frustrated. Sexually, if you don't know what I mean.

I slid from underneath him and went to the door. "_Yes_, Quatre, what do you want?"

He gave me a worried look. "Hang on, I'll be right back."

I kicked at the wall and waited for him to return, which turned out to be a whole ten minutes later. Then he rushed into the room with a bag in his arms and pulled me into the bathroom and turned on the fan.

"I _thought _that you'd learned how to knock!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, but I figured that since _Relena_ was here, you two wouldn't be getting up to anything." Q dumped the contents of the bag on the counter and I just about died.

"Are you _crazy_! What do you think you're doing—"

Quatre gave me a very serious look. "The two of you looked as if you were about to get hot and heavy, so I thought I'd give you some of these." He gestured to the three boxes of pre-lubricated condoms.

"For your information, I don't really think we'll be using _those_ with his sister under the roof," I grunted.

"Well, she won't be here forever . . . hopefully," he added as if it were an after thought. "And you two are going to _do it _eventually, so you should be prepared."

"Well . . ." I scooped them up and dumped them into a drawer. "Thanks I guess."

"No problem."

"You and Trowa use them?" I asked curiously. "I mean, do you really need to? Because—"

"Oh, actually I bought these not too long after Zechs arrived. For _you_." Quatre grinned. "Once I saw the way that he stared at your ass and the way you drooled over him . . . well. I thought that it would be best to be safe than sorry.

"Although . . ." The grin on his face slowly vanished. "I really think that you and Zechs should slow down. I'm a little concerned that you guys may be rushing it a bit. It's only been . . . what? Two months?"

"We haven't even _talked _about sex," I replied honestly.

"Maybe you should. It would be nice to know where he stands on the issue."

"You're right, as usual. Thanks again."

"Don't mention it. Just think about what I said." Quatre left with a wave to Zechs.

The man was lounging on the bed, looking very sexy with his shirt off and pants loosened. "What did he want?"

I made sure that the door was actually _locked _this time and crawled onto the bed, dropping myself across Zech's body. "He wanted to give me some condoms," I said bluntly, figuring that now was as good a time as any to bring up the topic.

"Condoms?" He placed a hand on my chin and tilted my face up so that I was staring in his eyes, which were filled with seriousness. "Do you think that we'll need those anytime soon?" He said this very slowly and cautiously.

I figured that this was his way of basically asking me whether or not I wanted to have sex him. "Well . . ." I smiled at him and ticked his face with the end of my braid. "I _hope _so."

He released a big breath, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"What? What does that mean?" I demanded quickly. "I'm ready if you are. I mean, I'd like to be with you that way—"

"Duo. Hush." The stroked the top of my head gently. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

We kissed, and for a moment there I thought that we were gonna do it _right then_, but eventually he pulled away and dropped down onto the cot. I whimpered like a puppy. He just laughed.

"Later, when I have a chance to make it just right."

To be quite honest, it didn't really matter to me whether or not it was perfect or _just right_ . . . just as long as it was with him.

**xOxOx**

Unfortunately, he and I didn't really have a chance to get busy for an entire month, because his _sister _(the free loader) was _still living in the mansion!_

Ahhhhh! The horror and injustice of it all!

_One night _had somehow turned into thirty something of them, and I was really fed up with having her around for the simple fact that Zechs and I were no longer free to make out all over the house. Actually, we barely made out at all!

Quatre refused to kick her out because it wouldn't be _polite_, she didn't understand (or pretended not to understand) my not-so-subtle hints about getting out and finding a place of her own to live. The woman just did not care. And just about every day, she and Zechs had a "private discussion" no doubt about either me or him returning to her services and to his former (FORMER!) lover. I was as nice as I could be, but there was only so much that I could take.

So one cloudy Friday evening, Zechs, his sister and I sat quietly in the living room. They were watching television on the couch. As for me . . . I was curled up in an arm chair _alone_, pretending to surf the net on my laptop while actually shooting daggers at the back of the princess's blond head. My eyes were on the way to being permanently squinty-like when a soft chime alerted me to the fact that I had a new e-mail.

I logged into my account—it was from Quatre. Good, now I could send one back ranting about how much I—

_Hello_, what was this?

**Grace Park **

**Big Oak**

**0909**

**8:30P**

Uh, yeah. That didn't sound like Quatre.

"Zechs," I said urgently. "September 9th at 8:30 p.m."

He looked over his shoulder at me. "What?"

"It's Rankin. He wants me to meet him—"

Zechs was out of his seat and at my side before I could finish the sentence. "Grace Park? Where is that?"

"Downtown. Really big, really nice, with a really big oak tree smack dab in the middle of it," I said. "That's in . . . what? Less than a week?"

Zechs' eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't worry—we'll be ready."

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **I'm having a lot of fun with this story, guys. I'm so excited because things are _really_ going to start picking up after this, believe me.

Also, I hope that I soothed some ruffled feathers over the whole Relena thing (snicker)—she's not that bad in this chapter. What did you all think of my characterization of her?

I've also had a lot of time pass, so I hope I haven't messed up somewhere, you know making it cold when it was supposed to be August or something. Haha. I'll have to go back and check.

**Anyway, if for some strange reason you didn't see it at the beginning, there is a side fic for 'Shades of Obsession.' So head on over to my author page to read it.**


	15. Hanging From a Cliff

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, but I had a _murder _of a test to study for (close to 200 pages of tiny writing to go over, I _swear_) and that took up all of my week. Tests suck. Unfair tests suck even more.

**Er**** . . . mild lime warning? Maybe? I don't know.****Just don't report me, because it sure as heck isn't NC-17 material, okay? Thank you.**

**xOxOx**

Later that same afternoon, Zechs, Tro, Q, Fei, Heero and I met several detectives, including Walker and Alex, in the VIP-super-exclusive room of a cozy but very posh little restaurant downtown (courtesy of Zechs) to discuss what Quatre and I had coined Operation Catch the Psycho, for which we had only a week to prepare for.

The others were on edge already, but as for me, hell, I was _excited_. If this operation was successful, which I figured that it would be because one doctor dude couldn't possibly outsmart Zechs, five Gundam pilots and the police and FBI people . . . well . . . okay, maybe the cops and the Feds, but he sure as hell wasn't about to get past Zechs and the guys because we were too damn smart and had been around the block more times than imaginable . . . wait, what was I talking about?

Oh yeah! So, if this whole thing went as planned, then Rankin would be behind bars and my nightmare would be _over_.

The only downside that I could see was the possibility that Zechs would leave me and go back to work with his sister or something. Yes, a bad thing indeed. Hopefully, I would give him a good enough reason to stick around. I planned to, anyway.

"Ohhh, donuts!" I cried as soon as I entered the VIP room. All the cops had at least _one _in their hand, so I grabbed a few and sat down at the looooong conference room-like table. Zechs joined me to my right and Alex came and sat to the left of me. I turned to the detective and said, "Okay, can we get this show on the road?"

"Anxious?" he teased.

"Hell. Yes. I want this _over _with. In one week I'll be able to return to my semi-normal life." I grabbed Zech's mug full of hot chocolate, downed it and banged it against the table loudly like a gavel. "Alright, let's do this thang! Sit down everyone, time for planning Operation Catch the Psycho to get underway!"

Grudgingly the men sat down and gave Alex the floor. He pulled out a huge diagram of the park and sat it up against the wall so that everyone could see. "Here's what Grace Park looks like." Walker began passing around a hand out of the same diagram to everyone. "Study it. Learn it. Know it like the back of your hand," he said sternly. Woohoo, how _dramatic_. "Know every _in _and every _out_, because I want those sealed. We will have undercover agents at every entrance and exit to the park. No civilians will be permitted for obvious safety reasons."

"Does this mean that we expect him to be armed?" a cop asked, concerned.

I spoke up. "He's got at least _one _gun that _I_ know of. He could have more, so I think that he should be considered armed and dangerous."

The cops gave me strange looks as if offended by the fact that I'd added my two cents in. The one that had asked the question turned to Alex and said, "I'd like to hear this information from _you_, sir, if you don't mind. Does this mean that we can expect him to be armed?"

Okay, I'd just been formally dissed. Jerk off.

Lucky for me, Alex wasn't about to take any shit. "When these men have something to say," he barked out, gesturing to Zechs and me and the others, "you'd better listen. If you've got a problem with listening to them, then you'd better drop out now or stop acting like a pussy and suck it up like a man because one of these men will be your section leader. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" came the sharp replies.

"Good. As Mr. Maxwell stated, yes, he should be considered armed and dangerous. Turn your attention to your park diagrams. As you can see, there are five ways in and out of the park, and we need to have each and every one of them covered. Yuy, I want you here at the Main Street exit with Team A. Winner, you will be with team B at the south entrance, Barton with team C at the Waterside Road entrance and Chang will be in charge of team D at the west entrance."

"And where exactly will I be?" Zechs asked in a dangerously soft voice. Oops. If Alex had _dared _to cut him out of the operation, there would be some hell to pay . . .

Alex smirked. "And you, Merquise, will be second in command of team X, or central command. I am first in command, of course."

Zechs nodded so I guess that assignment satisfied him.

Okay, my turn! "What about me? What will I be doing?"

"You, Mr. Maxwell, will be the bait, of course. We're going to send you in as if you're really there to meet him and go with him, but as soon as he tries one of the exits, we'll be ready for him."

"What precautions will you take to ensure his safety?" Zechs asked.

"He will be fitted with a wire, a tracer, and a panic button," Walker informed us all. "If anything goes wrong, if anything _feels _wrong, he can push that panic button and we will be there in less than thirty seconds."

"How about adding a panic phrase?" Quatre suggested. "In case something is wrong with the button, or Rankin finds it or . . ."

Alex nodded. "Good idea. Any suggestions, Duo?"

I sat back and thought as I nibbled on one of my donuts. Then it hit me. "How about . . . I want my daddy?"

Quatre snickered and had to cover his face with his hands to keep his composure. Next to me I saw a look of pride or smugness or something cross Zech's face.

Alex scratched the back of his head. "I want . . . my _daddy_?"

"Inside joke, inside joke." I laughed quietly. "Look, I can incorporate it into a sentence that sounds less weird. Like, oh, you know David, when things get difficult sometimes I just want my daddy. You get the drift."

" . . . Ahem. Well, okay, I want my daddy it is. So, men, where you hear that come from Mr. Maxwell's voice, you know its time for action."

Action? Hopefully the night would end with not too much of it. I looked around at the serious faces of the men who would be taking part in this operation. Many of them probably had families that depended on the income that they brought home to survive. If they ended up seriously wounded, or worse yet, _dead_ . . . If someone had to get hurt during the operation, the only thing that I could do was pray that the only person who ended up like _that _was Rankin.

The meeting wrapped up a few hours later, and I took the time to stand up and thank the men for their services before they left. Most of them looked surprised, and some of them probably suffered mild heart attacks when Zechs offered to treat them all to a meal at the expensive restaurant for free.

We didn't stay to party with the boys, however—it was straight back to the mansion for us where we planned on ordering some take out, as usual. Relena was still there, and when the six of us entered the house we were surprised to find her in the kitchen hovering over a table full of food, fresh from several of our favorite restaurants.

"Relena, what is all of this?" Quatre asked as politely as possible.

She looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, well . . . I just couldn't decide what I wanted, and then the people on the phone talked me into getting a lot of different things simply because I'd never ordered like that before. Besides, I thought that you all would be hungry after your meeting . . . how did it go? What was it about?"

Before anyone could tell her, I said, "Oh, that's very confidential, sorry. Hey, thanks for the food though." She frowned and I could see that she was mad, but oh well. See, I still had my suspicions about her. If she found out the intricate details of our plan, she could turn around and tell Rankin, and then all of our work and more than likely our only chance to catch Rankin in a controlled environment would be shot to hell. So _no_, she wasn't about to find out a damn thing.

She looked as if she were about to challenge me on that, but Zechs neatly stepped in. "He's right. This is a delicate operation, and the less people who know, the better."

Relena seemed to accept this, since it was coming from the mouth of her dear brother. I was relieved—nothing, I mean _nothing_ could mess this up. All I wanted was for Rankin to be caught and put behind bars or in a straight jacket for the rest of his life, and for me to have a bright and happy future with Zechs Merquise.

**xOxOx**

The next day, Alex came over early in the morning to show me all of the gadgets that I would be fitted with on the ninth and allowed me to put them on and try them out. Zechs hovered around near by, keeping a very close eye on the detective.

"You need to be as familiar with these as possible. We don't want Rankin to get suspicious if you're scratching at the tape on the tap," Alex said as he began strapping the tap to my body. Zechs coughed into his hand as Alex began lifting my shirt and sliding his hand beneath it. The detective paused, then shook his head and said. "Relax Merquise. I'm not going to try to cop a feel."

"Just watch where those hands go and everything will be fine."

I laughed, partly because of Zech's tone, partly because the wires were tickling me. "Don't worry, Daddy. The only person I'd let cop a feel and get away with his hand still attached to his body is you."

Alex's hand paused for a second. Then he tapped the tape down onto my body lightly and stepped back. "How does that feel?"

I hopped around a bit. "Just fine. A little cold, but other than that, just fine."

"Great. We'll test everything to make sure its running properly on the ninth."

Nodding, I gently removed the device and handed it back to the detective.

"So . . . you and Merquise?" he asked casually as he began putting his equipment into a black case.

Zechs stiffened. His voice was dangerous as he said, "What's it to you?"

Uh oh. I prepared myself for the off chance that I would have to jump between the two men.

"Duo is my friend. I'm just concerned for his welfare." Alex shut the case and turned to stare Zechs directly in the eye. "I'm sure you've gotten the brotherly speech from the others, so I'll do us both a favor and spare you. But know this—you'll have one more angry as hell man after you if screw up."

"Your concern is noted."

Alex gave him a sharp nod and left.

Zechs turned to me, eyebrows raised. "You seem to have a penchant for attracting men, don't you?"

I laughed. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I don't know."

"Well, this penchant of mine got me _you_, so I guess it ain't half bad."

" . . . good point."

**xOxOx**

Three days before the scheduled meeting with Rankin, Zechs and I were down in the kitchen cooking breakfast together. I was determined to get a hang of this particular skill, cuz I really do believe that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and I was determined to keep this man's heart.

I'd just poured some pancake batter into the frying pan when I heard several loud thumps coming from the stairs. I turned around to see Relena struggling with a giant purple (!) suitcase, and a few seconds later, Trowa and Q appeared, each with a duffle bag.

"What's going on?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, well," Quatre said, "I thought that it would be nice if we took Relena out to the coast and show her the sights, you know?"

Er . . . no. No, I didn't really.

Relena smiled brightly as she ran up to her brother and gave him a hug. "I wish that you could come with us, but I understand that you have other . . . obligations. I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures."

Zechs nodded. "I'd like to see them."

As the three headed to the front door, I called at the last moment, "Wait! When are you coming back?"

"Sometime tomorrow afternoon, probably after three or so! Have fun!" Quatre shouted, and then they were gone.

I shook my head and then remembered that I had food on the stove. I flipped the brown and kinda sorta burnt pancake successfully. "What the heck was that all about?"

Zechs didn't say anything, but continued to mix more batter.

I glared at him out of the corner of my eye. "What? Do you know something?"

" . . ."

"Zechs!"

"I don't know—"

"—what you're taking about, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you've said that a million times. What are you up to?"

He abandoned the batter and kissed me ever so sweetly. "I thought that we could use some time alone. With my sister here, I know you've been feeling a bit neglected."

I was overcome with a very sappy feeling. "That's so . . ."

"Sappy?"

"That is _exactly_ what I was thinking!" I said with a happy laugh. "But no, really, thanks. I've missed having you all to myself."

"Well, you've got me for the night. Whatever you want from me, you can have."

Ohhh, whatever? Better believe that I would hold him to _that _one.

**xOxOx**

Hours later, Zechs unceremoniously tossed me into the bathroom attached to my bedroom and commanded myself to lock the door behind him. Confused, I did was he asked, and pressed my ear against the door, trying to figure out just what was going on in the bedroom. I heard stuff clattering and banging against _other _stuff, but unfortunately, all of that noise didn't help me one bit.

"Zechs . . . what are you doing?" I yelled. "Can I come out?"

"Just give me a few more minutes!"

I sat back with a giddy grin on my face. He was surprising me with _something_, I just knew it, and the wait was killing me. It took all of the willpower I had not to jump up off of the cold as _hell_ toilet seat, unlock the door and throw it open—

But I didn't have to, because Zech's knocked softly on the door and called, "It's ready."

In a flash I was up off the toilet and bursting into the bedroom, overflowing with excitement and—I couldn't help but laugh a bit when I saw Zech's surprise.

"I'm hurt," Zechs said with a smile. "All of the care I took in planning this—getting Relena and the others out of the house, then setting this all up and you don't like it?"

"No! That's not why I was laughing." I gave him a hug, which he happily returned. "Its very romantic, I assure you. I love it. It's just that . . . it's not like you. You've turned into a pile of mush."

"Blame it on the lingering guilt that I have for being so stubborn and pushing you away after that first kiss."

"Well now we're even."

Yes, we certainly were. Although it was a little girly, the romantic-ness and the plain fact that he'd _obviously _spent some time thinking this through. _This _being the small round table sitting in the middle of the room, dressed up with a clean and crisp looking white tablecloth with a tall, lit candle burning brightly in the middle of it, some good smelling and steamy hot food on two fancy plates, and (best of all, rowr) red flower petals on the bed. Not roses!—thankfully, but some other ones. "Soo . . ." I said, turning back to look at him with a sly grin. "Tonight, hm?"

"Yes, if that's what you'd like."

I threw myself down on the bed and super-sexy struck a sexy pose. "Well, come over here then! What are we waiting for?"

Zechs chuckled and pulled me up. "No, not yet. Let's eat, let's talk, okay?"

" . . . sure, okay."

We sat down at the table (Zechs was laying it on really thick—he even _pulled out my chair_) and began m eating quietly. I wanted to tell him that he didn't need to do all of this just to sleep with me, but I figured that that would ruin the mood, so instead I said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Well, I was just wondering why you left Relena to become my bodyguard. I mean, that seemed like pretty cushy job, ya know, going around the world, standing there looking all scary and handsome . . ." I grinned at him.

"It _was_ nice. But . . . I wanted to do something more . . ." He drifted off, staring into the candle.

Poking at a carrot, I raised an eyebrow at him. "More what?"

"I felt that I could do more if I worked for the Preventers," he replied softly. "There are things that I feel that I must make up for . . . do you understand?"

Of course I did. We'd both done horrible things during the war—_that_ was no secret. Understanding his need to make reparation, I nodded. "But I still don't get it. How does that equal body guarding _me_?"

"Une said that she could only offer me a position with the organization if I proved myself to the other board members by successfully completing this job." He took a long swig of his wine—my glass was filled with grape juice. Being underage _sucked_. "If I could keep you out of harm, and keep my nose clean, then I'd be in."

"So you've had a vested interest in my wellbeing all along. And here I thought this whole time that you actually _liked _me!"

Zech's face turned serious. "Don't think that I've been using you—"

I laughed, shoving the candle aside so that I could lean over the table to kiss him. "I was just kidding. This is good news. That means . . . that means that you'll be staying around? For a long time, I mean?"

"Of course. I'm not going anywhere." A long, slow and deep kiss made my toes curl.

When we were done, I sat back in my seat and sighed heavily. "Whew! Suddenly I'm not hungry anymore? Are you?"

And then he used a sexy smile with a totally clichéd line, but hey, it worked! "No, not for _food_."

The next thing I knew, the table and the food was abandoned as I was swept up into his arms and dropped onto the bed. Laughing as we bounced up and down for a while, my heart began to race with anticipation and maybe a little fear. This would be my first time, and although I knew the _mechanics _of it all, I couldn't help but fear that I would be so horrible at it that I would bring him to tears of laughter.

Zechs must have sensed it, because after he peeled off my shirt he asked, "Are you having second thoughts?"

Hell. No. I ripped at his shirt with a feral grin. "Does it _look _like I'm having second thoughts?"

His eyes lit up, and, well, after that, our clothes disappeared in a flash, and we were under the blankets, skin against skin . . . as you can imagine, with two sexy men such as ourselves naked as the day we were born rolling around on satin sheets . . . it was _so hot_!

Zechs reached for the box of condoms, pulled one out, and as he put it on, he said is husky, sexy voice, "Duo? Will you do something for me?"

Uh, let's see . . . he was just about to drill me into the mattress, so right about then, I'd do . . . "Anything!"

"Will you . . . call me daddy?"

I burst out laughing. In return, he grinned wolfishly down at me. "Are you serious? You want me to call you daddy?"

"Yes. You were right. It _is _pretty kinky."

Zechs nibbled at my neck. It tingled deliciously.

_"Daddy . . ."_

His hands ran down my side slowly, grabbing my hips. His fingers burned against my skin, the warmth sending shivers up my spine.

_"Daddy . . ."_

And then, ever so slowly and gently, he was inside of me, and I felt him deep in my soul.

**. . . cough . . .  
**

I _know _that there are some freaky ass people out there just _waiting _for me to give you all of the gritty, sweaty, noisy details, but I ain't like that, okay? If you're that desperate to know what two guys are doing when they are getting it on, go rent some gay porn or something, sheesh.

And if you're too shy to go into an adult video store and browse the gay section because you're afraid of what the tubby guy with too much body hair standing behind the counter will think of you (Quatre!), you can always borrow some from me—I've got plenty to share. (wink)

**xOxOx**

Unfortunately, morning . . . er, more like the _afternoon_ came way too soon. Exhausted after last night's (damn good, super pleasing) bedroom activities, we'd slept the earlier hours away, and when I finally peeled my crusty eyes open, the clock read two thirty.

Ack!

I bolted up and reached over to shake Zechs. The man just mumbled in his sleep. I yanked the pillow from under his head and smacked him with it. "Get up!"

Zechs just grumbled, "Go back to sleep, Duo."

"Go back to _sleep_? So that your sister can walk in on us in bed together, buck naked in all of our handsome glory? I think not."

The mention of his sister got him up. He glanced at the clock, swore and jumped up. I admired the pretty sight that was his ass before I slid out of bed and grabbed some clothes. I moved towards the bathroom, swaying my hips and my braid behind me and called, "Let's conserve some water, shall we?"

"Damn. You have _no _idea how much I would like to, but if we share that shower, I _don't _think we'll be doing what we're supposed to be doing in there."

I laughed. "Oh come on. You can't leave me alone, so you _have _to join me."

Zechs looked torn, but then darted into the bathroom. "Fine. But no sex! I'm serious. We don't have time."

"Oh, there's _always _time . . ."

**xOxOx**

Yes, there _was_. Well, we _made _some, anyway. We were pulling on our last bit of clothing when I heard Q's SUV pull into the driveway a half an hour later. Zechs and I went downstairs to greet them, and I was pleased to see that Quatre had a large bag of steaming hot, good smelling food with him.

He gave me a knowing, wicked smile. "Hi guys. Brought home an early dinner. I thought you two might be hungry."

"Boy am I _ever_."

It was Chinese food. Yummy. I'd grabbed one of those funny boxes with some chicken inside when Quatre pulled me over to the side. He was grinning like an idiot, and I just gave him a purely innocent look as I took a healthy bite out of my food.

"What? Why are you looking like that?"

"You _know _why. I'm not dumb, I know why Zechs asked me to take Relena somewhere for the day. How was it?"

A foolish grin that matched his bloomed on my face. I couldn't help it. I just couldn't. "Oh man, was it _hot! _Fantastic."

"I'm glad."

"So am I." I glanced over my shoulder at Zechs, who was artfully informing the not-so-nice looks that Trowa was sending him. "And what does Trowa know about it? Cuz he's giving Zechs some death glares, and I'd _like _for him to stick around for a bit."

"Weeeeeeell . . ." Quatre said evasively.

"What does _that _mean? Did you tell him?"

"No. He figured it out on his own. He wasn't too pleased."

"Erk. Maybe you should've told him."

"Maybe. Now Trowa thinks that Zechs conned me into getting us out of the house so that he could seduce and take advantage of you. Or something like that."

Ha! As if he _needed_ to.

"But don't worry about it, I'll talk to him later." Quatre gave me a critical look. "So you're happy with this? With him?"

"Yes. Very happy."

"Good. That's all I wanted."

And that was all I wanted too.

**xOxOx**

The next day, Quatre and Trowa headed in for work, leaving me, once again, with Relena-the-Zechs-hog. After a breakfast during which she babbled on and on endlessly about her trip and passed around all of her photos, I was glad that she decided to take a nap in the middle of the day. With the door secured, Zechs and I cuddled together on the bed watching television, which was no where near as satisfying as what we _would _have been doing if his sister wasn't around, but good nonetheless.

We sat together for an hour, and just as I was about to fall asleep myself, an ear piercing, high pitched scream knocked me out of la la land. Zechs and I were on our feet in an instant.

"Relena," Zechs growled, then turned to me. "Stay here!" He threw open the door and flew down the stairs.

Yeah, right. Like I really was going to stay put. I followed on the heels of his feet, and what we saw in the foyer took my breath away and turned my blood to ice.

There stood Rankin, all disheveled looking and furious, with a big ass kitchen knife pressed against Relena's throat. He grinned maniacally at us and jerked Relena against his body, digging the blade deeper into her flesh.

"I _thought _that would get your attention."

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Bwahahahaha! You have _no _idea how long I've waited to get to this part. Hehehe . . .

Oh, and if you're going to say something stupid about this new twist with Relena—spare me. I don't want to hear it. Thanks in advance, okay? Okay.


	16. Just When You Thought it was Safe to go ...

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the wait. I rewrote several scenes in this chapter many times over, but I still don't know about it. **Please leave a review.**

**xOxOx**

"I _thought _that would get your attention."

Oh man, this was _bad_. Relena was just too important to die right now, she had stuff to do—speeches to make, peace conferences to attend, pink things to buy in bulk . . . As much as I hated to admit it, the world freaking _needed _her.

"David, let her go," I said cautiously, stepping from behind Zechs despite his best attempts to keep me hack. I approached him slowly with my hands in plain sight. "She doesn't have anything to do with this."

But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes . . . oops again,his _eye _was bearing down on Zechs like nobody's business, seriously, and in his arms, Relena began squirming, her eyes wide with fear.

"David, _please_. Let her go." I took a deep breath, prepared myself to use my best puppy dog voice, and added, "Please, for me?"

The sucker just _had _to fall for this, he _had _to.

After what seemed like an eternity, he roughly pushed Relena to the side, the blade, inadvertently or not, digging into her skin and cutting it. She screamed and fell to the floor, clutching at her neck and gasping for air as red liquid streamed from between her fingers. Zechs lurched at Rankin, and the two wrestled their way into the kitchen, leaving me to rush to Relena's side. I tried to pry her stubborn hands away from the wound, but she just would not let go for anything.

"Let me see . . . let me _see_, damn it!" When I got a clear view, I let out a sigh of relief and tore away part of my shirt, pressing it to her neck. "Listen to me! It's not that bad. It's not deep at all. Take the keys and get into the SUV. Drive to the hospital and call the police, okay?"

She was shaking slightly, but doing her best, I could see, to maintain some sense of composure. "But—but my brother—!"

"Just _go_! I'll take care of him." I hauled her to her feet and practically shoved her out of the door.

Once she was safely out of harms way, I rushed back to the kitchen just in time to see Rankin slamming Zech's head against the counter top. Both of them looked pretty messed up, but Zechs wasn't doing too well—his head was bleeding pretty badly, and he looked a little disoriented. If anything happened to him, I knew that I wouldn't ever forgive myself.

But what could I do? What _should_ I do?

And then I remembered something that Quatre always kept hidden in the living room under a loose floor board. I ran to it, yanked up the piece of wood and took out the pistol. In a flash I was back in the kitchen, and the sound of the safety being clicked off made Rankin freeze, just as he was about to plunge the knife into Zechs' stomach as the man leaned helplessly against the counter.

"Stop right there, Rankin," I said in a deadly tone. "Drop the knife and back away from him or I _swear_ to everything that is holy that I will shoot you."

A heated, angry look crossed Rankin's face. "You would shoot _me_? And not _him_?"

I took a step closer, the gun remaining steady and level. "Tell me why the _hell _I would shoot him."

"Because he _raped _you! And I saw it all!"

Wha! Okay, I hadn't been expecting _that_ one. But he was looking so crazy (crazier than usual, anyway) that I decided to go with it. "How . . . how did you know?"

"I had someone place a camera in your room when those men came in the replace the door," Rankin said, obviously pleased with himself. "I slipped one of them fifty credits and they put it in." Oh great. Yeah, reeeealy nice. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Zechs shifting slightly, reaching for something. I had to keep him distracted.

"O-oh? You've been watching me this entire time?"

"Yes. I saw the way that he forced you to be in his arms, and the way that he forced you to kiss him, and I wanted to go after him then, but . . ." Rankin gave Zechs an evil glare. "You asked me not to hurt anyone else because of you. Do you remember?"

Er . . . "Vaguely, yes."

"I tried. I really did, and I thought that I could put up with it because I would have you in the end, when it mattered and not him, but he went too far! He _raped _you!"

Oh, jeeze, _that _again? "David, please! Just put down the knife or I'll shoot."

"You wouldn't. You want to be with _me, _remember? You're not going to shoot me."

Wanna bet?

The man raised the knife above his head and I pulled the trigger. Rankin let out a roar of pain and grabbed his hand as the knife flew from it, and then sank to the floor and moaned.

Zechs was on the other side of the kitchen island, reaching for the cordless phone and dialing 911. "Where did you get him?"

"In the hand." Despite all that he'd done, I couldn't . . . I was _through_ killing people. I'd let the cops lock him up for the rest of his pathetic life.

Rankin slowly rolled his head up to look at me, his eye wide with disbelief. "You . . . you _shot _me . . ."

Well, duh. "I said that I would."

"I . . . I . . ." Rankin, glanced at Zechs. A look of realization crossed his face. "You love him."

" . . .Yes."

"Then I have no chance with you whatsoever."

Man, he was on a roll today. "No, I'm sorry."

He hung his head momentarily in what I'd assumed was defeat, and then his eye met mine. A strange sense of apprehension welled up in my throat. I didn't like that grave expression on his face, nor that really weird, shiny look in his eye. What was going on in his head? What was his next move?

I didn't have to wait long to see what it would be—his head turned so that he was looking at Zechs. Rankin's face turned dark and dangerous. His uninjured hand moved—he was reaching for something behind his back and my mind began whirling. Did he have a gun or something? Was he going to hurt Zechs?

The next thing I knew, the sound of a gun firing one, twice, three times exploded in my ears, and then everything was silent.

I stood there, stunned and unable to move until the smoking gun was gently and carefully removed from my hand by Zechs, who placed it on the counter.

"Is he dead?" I asked softly.

Zechs crossed the kitchen and bent down to feel the man's pulse, even though that probably wasn't necessary, given the hole in the middle of the man's head. Zechs nodded gravely and gave me a concerned look over his shoulder.

My mouth was dry. Why was Zechs looking at me like that? I hadn't done anything wrong! Right? "He-he was _reaching _for something, I _swear_," I rushed out taking a small step forward. "Check him! It was probably a gun or a knife or—"

"Duo." Zechs' voice was firm but soothing as his hand's checked Rankin's body. "There isn't anything."

" . . . what?" I blinked rapidly. "What the hell do you mean, there isn't anything?"

Zechs sighed and stepped away from the body, icy eyes glaring down at it. "There's no gun, no knife, not a damn thing. More than likely he did that on purpose. He knew that you would fire that gun again if you thought that he was coming after me."

Selfish bastard. I'd broken my vow of never taking another life because of him . . . A mix of rage, sorrow and disgust welled up in my stomach and threatened to come up through my throat, but luckily, I was able to force it down.

"It's not your fault," Zechs said softly, coming to my side. "You had no other choice. You were just defending me."

Those words should have comforted me, but they didn't. Well, not much anyway, but the supportive hand he placed on my back was better.

Numb, I turned to him. "Are-are you okay?"

"Minor injuries. I'll be fine." He took me into his arms and didn't let me go until the cops were beating at the front door.

Zechs was immediately taken to the hospital, and the paramedics at the scene gave me the okay, but with some skillful persuasion I managed get them to let me ride in the back of the ambulance with him, on the pretence of needing to give Alex, who was also there, my statement. I was separated with him, though, as they took him away to be examined. I sat in the waiting room, staring at the floor until Alex came up to me.

"How are you doing?" He asked softly.

"Fine, I guess. I . . . I didn't think that he would die," I said honestly. "I didn't think that he do something as stupid as basically killing himself because I didn't love him."

Alex gave me a rueful smile. "Don't underestimate yourself, kiddo. Is there anything that I can do for you?"

I was just about to shake my head when I got an idea. "Yes, actually there is . . ."

**xOxOx**

"Damn . . . Duo, are you _sure _that you want to do this?" asked Alex warily.

I couldn't help but shiver, but not only from the cold, but also because of where we were. Jeeze, I must've been out of my flipping mind, but there I was, standing in the city morgue staring at the giant window with its blinds down that separated me from . . . urg. Screw it, I'd come this far, so I might as well.

"Yeah. I want to see. I _need _to see."

Alex sighed and rapped on the window, and the blinds went up with a whoosh.

A medical examiner was standing next to a metal table, and on that table laid the body of David Rankin. I stared for a while. "He's really dead this time? I mean, really?"

The examiner called out, "Dead as can be."

I nodded and turned away. "Thanks, Alex. Can you take me back to the hospital now?"

**xOxOx**

As I stepped quietly into the hospital room, I couldn't help but think that despite the fact that he was covered in enough bandages to wrap up a mummy and as white as the hospital bed sheets, Zechs was still one handsome man. I grinned at him as he turned his head so that he was facing me, and his eyes lit up.

"Duo . . ." he moaned, trying to sit up.

I was at his side in a second. "No, no, stay down silly."

Zechs stared up at me with drowsy icy blue eyes. "Are you . . . okay?"

"Yeah, Daddy, just fine. I don't have a scratch on me."

Zechs frowned. "I wasn't talking about physically."

" . . . I'll get over it. Not the first time, you know?"

That seemed to bother him, but he didn't comment. "And . . . Relena? How . . .?"

I shrugged and squeezed his hand. "I don't know . . . But I can try to find out if you want me to."

"I . . . thank you."

Alright, Duo Maxwell was on a mission! Where to start, where to start? I left Zechs with a kiss on the lips and went out into the hallway. Her location would most likely be confidential for security reasons, but there had to be some way . . .

As I wondered down the hall and past the nurses' station, I heard some women giggling softly amongst themselves. And then the name Relena came out of one of the women's mouth. I slinked back and leaned against a nearby wall, trying to look all cool and suave and nonchalant.

"You mean she's _here_?" one of them whispered urgently.

A tall blond nodded, looking all smug and stuff. "I took her vitals just a few minutes ago. Something was wrong with her neck."

"And you got to _meet _her? Oh, I am so jealous of you!" A red head crowed. "What room is she in?"

The blond looked around to see if anyone important was around, and then went over to her desk where she pulled out a clipboard and showed it to her friends. I _had _to see that. I just had to.

I pushed away from the wall and approached the group of women. The blond tossed the clipboard back onto her desk quickly. "Hey ladies, just thought you'd like to know that I think some kid puked down the hall over there." I pointed for them.

The blond stuck her nose up in the air. "That is not _our _job. Go find a—"

"Say, what was that you were looking at?" I asked innocently, gesturing towards the clipboard. "Confidential information or . . .?"

The woman turned pink and stomped off. I turned to the rest of the women and said, "It was pretty big. You all should go and help out." I gave one last significant look to the clipboard, and that was enough to get them hustling off.

Yes! I swooped down on it and began scanning. What room . . . what room . . .? There! On this floor, room 759, which should be on the other end of the hall—

"Hey! You! What are you doing!"

I jumped back and looked up to see a security guard frowning at me. "I, ah . . ."

"Come here, kid!"

Who the hell were they calling a _kid_?

I turned away and began walking quickly down the hallway towards room 759, and as I heard the guard shouting for me to stop, I took off running. I was pretty damn fast, so when I made it to Relena's room, the guard was just a speck down the long hall. I threw the door open and burst inside and—WHOA!

Just as I came through the door, Relena was been getting out of bed, and you know those damn hospital gowns with no back . . .

Her bare naked ass stared me _right_ in the face!

"Oh shit, oh shit, I did _not _just see that," I moaned, covering my eyes and slumping against the door as Relena whirled around and screamed, clasping the back of the gown.

The horrors! My poor, poor, _poor _eyes! I would never get such a frightful scene out of my mind. Her brother's smooth, round and fine ass was one thing, but _hers_ . . . the absolute and utter _horror!_

"What on earth are _you _doing here!" she demanded, her face bright pink.

"To check up on you for Zechs! He was—"

I heard the footsteps of several angry individuals approaching the door, which I locked in just the knick of time. A man began banging on the door.

"Ms. Peacecraft! Ms. Peacecraft! Are you alright!"

She stared at me, trying to decide whether or not to turn me in to the cops. "My brother, you said?" she asked quietly. I nodded. "Yes, I'm fine!" Relena shouted back.

"Are you sure! Open the door—"

"I said go AWAY!" Relena yelled furiously. And what do you know—they actually complied. "What is this about Zechs?"

"I'm here to see if you're okay," I said and then added quickly, "for Zechs, I mean. I, ah, was just thanking him for his good work, and he asked about you, and I figured that the least that I could do is come and see you for him. So, you're okay, I guess I'll be going—" I began slipping out of the door, and then she said—

"Wait! I think . . . I think that I should apologize."

Hold up, stop the presses. This was major.

"I had not . . . realized how serious that the stalker issue was, and I had not believed that Zechs' . . . services were needed that desperately." She looked down at the floor. "And thank you for being so kind to my brother. He really needs a good friend."

I stared at her, mouth wide open. The thing is this—she sounded totally sincere. I guess staring a mad man in the eyes while he had a knife at your throat was enough to get her to change her opinion of me. Well, hopefully, because I wasn't planning on leaving her brother any time soon. "Well, uh, thanks. I like being your brother's . . . ah, _friend_."

Relena nodded with a small, tight smile. "Now, if you would excuse me, I would like to get dressed."

"Oh, sure. And . . . we'll just keep the fact that you mooned me between the two of us, alright?"

"Mooned? What does that mean?"

I snickered. "Never mind."

Quickly I returned to Zechs' room where I found him sitting up in the bed, trying to get to his feet. "And just _where _do you think _you're _going?" I asked him. I plopped down on the bed next to him.

"I was just coming to find you. You took to long."

"Don't be silly. Get back in bed." I forced him down, much to his chagrin, and began tucking the covers around his body. "Hey, how the hell did you get pajama pants? Why do I always get the backless gown and you get pants?"

Zechs smirked. "I'm good."

"Oh, yes you are." I made sure that he was comfortable before I settled down in the armchair next to the bed. "How long do you have to stay here?"

"Overnight, they told me."

"Overnight?"

"Observational purposes only."

"Oh."

Zechs reached over to squeeze my hand. "I'm _fine_. I promise."

I just nodded. "If you say so." I reached for the remote and flipped on the TV, immediately passing over the news, which was sure to be featuring a story about me, and turned it to the comedy channel. We sat together in silence, and I guess I was more physically and emotionally drained than I though, because eventually I drifted off without even knowing it.

**xOxOx**

When I woke up, the first thing I realized was that my neck felt like total and utter _shit_ from being in a weird position the entire night, and the second was that Zechs was already dressed in a pair of kakis and a white sweater, sitting on the bed with his laptop and cell phone up to his ear. I was about to ask him where the hell he got that stuff, but then I remembered—he was _good_.

"Wah . . . what are you doing?" I mumbled, massaging the kink out of my neck.

He glanced over at me. "Shopping."

Ooohhh, _shopping_. "For what?"

"A place to live."

A place to _live_? So he really _was _staying. My heart began slamming in my chest. "That's great!"

"Umm. I think I've found the perfect place. Would you like to come and check it out with me?"

"Of course. Now?"

Zechs nodded. "Come on, get your lazy ass up before someone takes this place."

"Hey!"

**xOxOx**

The place . . . was . . . oh man, rich people!

I'm sure that my chin was down at my feet as I looked around. This flat was—

"Very nice, yes?" the real estate agent asked with an uber-perky voice. "Lovely open floor plan and everything is new! Look at these shiny hardwood floors, and the beautiful cabinets in the kitchen. Granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, fireplace in the living room—"

"Zechs," I interrupted, going over to a wall covered by curtains. I pulled them back and gasped at the view of the skyline that the wall of windows provided. "How much does this place cost?"

"Don't worry about it," he said from the kitchen as he opened the cabinets and examined the cabinets. "Do you like it?"

I wanted to turn around and ask him if this was a request to move in with him, but with that damn real estate guy there, I couldn't. "Er, it's nice for you. A little too expensive for my taste, but you should fit right in."

"Hmm . . ." Zechs came over to me and looked out of the window. "I like it." He turned to the agent and said, "Would you give me a moment?"

"Ah . . . sure." He gave us weird looks and quickly left the flat.

"So . . ." I looked up at him. "This place is really nice."

"Umm, hmm."

Did he not get my hint? He just stood there, staring down at me. Oh jeeze, did I have to be any blunter? Apparently so—okay, Duo, just go for it. "You . . . do you want . . . are you asking me to move in with you? Because that's what it sounds like."

Zechs sighed and pulled me close so that he could rest his chin on the top of my head. "I would like for you to, yes."

My heart soared . . . only to crash and burn seconds later.

"But—"

"Woah!" I pulled back, giving him a look through narrowed eyes. "But _what_?"

"I would like for you to move in, but I have to think of how that would affect my sister."

Oh god. And I was _just _beginning to make piece with the girl, and _now _it appeared as if she would _still _be in the way! "Zechs, come on. Relena's a big girl—she can handle it."

"Her job is too important and you know that."

I took several deep breaths. I didn't want to lost this man, and if keeping him meant dealing with an annoying sister, then so be it. "Okay. Fine. If that's what you want."

He seemed to sense my annoyance at the situation—he was at my side in a second, caressing my hair. "Please don't be upset with me. She's vital to the peace that exists right now, and anything that I do will reflect heavily on her."

"I know. And I'm not upset with you," I said honestly. Well, I wasn't. How could I be upset with him for caring about his sister and about peace? "You're staying here, in town. You're staying here with me. That's all I can ask for."

Zechs nodded, relieved at my reply. He looked around the flat briefly, and then back at me. "I'm thinking about buying it. What do you think?"

"It's great. I'd get it if I could afford it."

I saw a little something flash in his eyes (anger? frustration? annoyance?), but as soon as it had appeared, it was gone. He didn't say anything else to me, and went and got the real estate guy. The papers were signed, the place was now officially Zech's, and when the two of us left, I was sure that we were going to a furniture store, unless he was going sleep and eat on the floor while staring at the wall all day, but when we got into his car, he turned to me and said, "Where is the apartment complex you stayed in before you moved in with Quatre?"

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"You'll be moving back there, right? I'm just curious."

I directed him to it. When we arrived, I could tell that he was less than thrilled with what he saw. The place wasn't _that _bad, but it wasn't the best. Growing up on L2, I was accustomed to a hell of a lot worse, so this place was like the Ritz to me. Just good enough for Duo Maxwell.

"There's at least one burglary every week in this neighborhood," Zechs commented lightly after we'd sat there (quite stupidly, if you asked me) in his car, which was parked outside the rental office, for about five minutes. "And a murder around here every year."

Okay, so this wasn't exactly Q's neighborhood, but there were worse places around here. "How the hell do you know that?"

"I did some research."

I looked around, amazed. "What, is your brain running Internet Explorer or something?"

He smirked. "No. I did it before."

I wasn't going to ask him what exactly 'before' meant. "So you already knew where this was."

"Yes. I asked Quatre."

" . . ." I blinked at him. "Okay, what are you trying to get at here? If I can't move in with you, where the hell am I supposed to go? Continue to mooch off of my best friend? Or do you want me to move in with my ex?"

"No. Let me show you something." We pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the expressway, and soon we were pretty much right back at Zechs' fancy apartment building. After a fifteen minute drive from there, we arrived at a group of really nice apartments, where Zechs parked and got out.

I already knew as soon as I got into the rental office that there was no way that I would be able to afford one of these places. The buildings were newly constructed with a nice brick facade, and from the office I could see three men outside dragging a tarp over a gigantic swimming pool. It reeked money. Er, money that I did not have.

I was yanking on Zech's sleeve when a very pretty young lady approached us. "Welcome to The Hillside. I'm Amy, how may I help you today?" I noted that she said this to Zechs as she gave him her best sexy smile—I was practically ignored.

"I was wondering if you had a unit that you could show us." Zechs said. "One bedroom preferably, and the best that you have."

"Oh of course! Let me get a key . . ." As she shook her hips over to a cabinet, I tugged harder.

"Zechs! What—"

"Right this way, gentlemen. Follow me please." Amy took us over to one of the buildings and all the way up to the top floor. The door was bright red and had one of those fancy electronic locks where you didn't need to turn the key or whatever—_that _was a sure fire sign that my Preventers budget didn't have any room for this.

Zechs dragged me inside anyway, and I almost groaned out loud at the sight of the place. New-apartment smell hit me smack dab in the face, and before the lady could begin yakking, I excused us and pulled Zechs down the hallway and into the bathroom, where I shut the door and turned to him, giving him the Evil Eye.

Much to my annoyance, he just looked around appreciatively. "This is very nice. Is that a jet tub?"

"Zechs! I can't afford this," I hissed at him.

"Yes you can."

"Ah, _no _I can_not_. I know my finances, and this place does _not_ fit."

"You've got me."

" . . . what are you suggesting?" When he didn't reply, I stepped closer to him. "Zechs . . ."

"I don't want you staying in that other building. It's not safe and . . . and you deserve better. Let me help you pay the difference between that apartment and this one."

I poked him in the stomach and looked up at him curiously. "The _difference?_"

He grinned and rubbed the top of my head. "I figured that you wouldn't let me pay for all of your rent, so I thought you'd like this compromise."

"You don't have to buy me anything, Daddy," I told him softly. "I hope you know that."

"Of course." He turned his back to me and began examining the bathtub, and then the separate shower stall with gleaming, clear glass door and walls. "Very nice. Jets in the tub, and a steam shower." Then he smirked at me. "Hopefully we'll be making good use of these?"

I figured that that translated into, "will you let me get this for you?" and not, "let's have hot and steamy man sex right here, right now." I crossed my arms over my chest and thought. I didn't want it to look like I was with Zechs only because he had money because, to be honest, that was just about the _last _thing that I wanted from him.

But I was touched by his effort and concern. He'd obviously done his homework while I'd been sleeping, and I didn't want to upset him. I could see it in his eyes how much this meant to him, so . . .

"Okay. Okay, that sounds like a good arrangement to me."

Zechs nodded. "Then let's go sign the papers."

The apartment lady was surprised that we wanted to sign an agreement without her showing us around, but while she went to fetch the lease paper, I had ample time to look around at all of the very nice, very new amenities. I went over and peeked out of the window. Ah, perfect.

"What are you looking at?" asked Zechs from the kitchen.

"A bus stop. I can see it from the front window," I said as I joined him at his side. "I'll need to check the schedule." He looked disturbed at this. Oh boy. "Didn't you know that I don't have a ride of my own? That's why I'm always bumming off of Q or Tro to get to work and back."

"Why don't you just get one?" he asked me curiously.

"Because I don't _need_ one."

"Hm." Zechs stared off at the far wall thoughtfully.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You better not be thinking about buying me a car. You are _not _thinking about buying me a car."

He gave me a small smile. "No, I'm not."

"Good. Cuz if you were, I'd have to smack you."

"Is that so?"

I didn't have a chance to reply because Amy waltzed back in and sashayed her way up to _my_ boyfriend and handed him the lease and a pen . . . which I made sure he slid my way so that I could sign it. We left after that and headed back to the mansion.

It was still flooded with cops, and Quatre was hovering around outside of the kitchen as the cops began wrapping up their investigation and cleaning crews started moving in. I threw my arm around his shoulder and pulled him into the living room where Trowa was reading the newspaper and Zechs was in the far corner whispering on his cell phone. What the hell was he up to now? I didn't have time to bug him about it, because Quatre commanded my attention.

"I bet you're feeling a lot better now that this is over, huh?" Q asked me with a small smile.

"Yeah. I just wish that it hadn't ended that way," I said, curling up in an armchair. "I was hoping that I would never have to off another person after the war."

Quatre nodded. "I understand. You're okay?"

"Yep."

"Are you sure?"

I tossed a pillow at his head. "Yes!" Pretty sure anything. The man was dead, there was no changing it, so why go all angst-y over it? It bothered me a bit, but I'd get over it.

"Good. How's Zechs?"

I glanced over at him—he was concentrating on his phone conversation. "Oh, just fine. We went on a spending spree today, where he did _all_ of the spending."

Trowa looked up from his paper. "Oh? What'd you get?"

"Nothing major. Just one fancy, high-end flat for him and one moderately high-end apartment for me," I said casual as I plucked a loose piece of lint off of the chair.

Quatre gapped. "What?"

Grinning at him, I replied quietly, "Didn't I tell you? He's sticking around now. Une's going to give him a job with the Preventers, so he needed a permanent place to stay. And before you ask why I'm not living with him, it's because of his _sister_." I made a face.

Trowa snickered and disappeared behind the paper again—Quatre rolled his eyes. "That sucks."

"Doesn't it? But I'm glad he'll be around. If I have to put up with Relena, so be it."

Quatre stretched out in his boyfriend's lap. "You said _moderately high-end_. Er, can you afford that?"

"Hell no. But with Zech's help, I can. He didn't feel comfortable with me living at my old place so . . ."

Q's eyebrows shot up. "Oh wow. That's nice."

Before I could reply, Zechs came over, hauled me to my feet and covered my eyes. What the hell had he _had _for breakfast this morning? He was acting very strange.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I stumbled over my own two feet.

"Do you trust me?"

I laughed. "Have you been watching Disney movies behind my back?"

"Come on." He guided me past the cop-filled kitchen and outside, where I heard the gates opening up and something coming in. Zechs removed one hand and told me to hold out one of mine.

I did so and felt something small, cold and metal hit the palm.

"Okay, open your eyes."

They flew open and—holy crap, I couldn't believe my eyes!

Sitting in the drive way was the Sex Machine version 1.0, the beautiful black sports car that Zechs had originally arrived in, and in my hand was the key.

"Are you serious?" I demanded, turning to him. "Are you _fucking _serious!"

"I'm _dead_ serious. It's yours."

I smiled. "Thank you." I turned to the car and rubbed the exterior. "But I thought I told you not to get me a car, silly."

He gave me a throaty laugh. "No, _baby_, you told me not to _buy _you a car. And I didn't. I'm giving you one that I already had."

Sneaky little devil, twisting my own words! Hey wait . . . did he just call me what I _think _he just called me? "Baby?"

"Daddies need babies, you know."

Oh jeeze. This guy was priceless. "Let's go for a ride, Daddy. You've got to teach me how to drive this sucka!"

We got in and drove off, and seriously, I just felt like going and going until there were no more roads to follow because Zechs was next to me. That's all I wanted, and at that moment, that was all that mattered.

**xOxOx**

For the next two and a half months, everything was fantastic. Zechs settled into his new flat and filled it with obscenely expensive things, I found that I really didn't feel _that_ out of place in my kind of ritzy apartment, and Quatre, due to the fact that he believed that Rankin's ghost was haunting the kitchen (boo! haha), moved into a newer, bigger and better mansion a little closer to the city. Wufei and Heero, the stiffs, were in their same old place, with their same old junk and doing the same old stuff. Oh well.

My relationship with Zechs was . . . amazing. Although I couldn't live with him, I was over at his place all the time and usually only returned to my own apartment at night. At first the set up had been stressful, with the transit and the late hours and what not, but seriously, those jets in that tub and a butt naked Zechs with a bottle of champagne in his hand really made all of that go away.

We still had some lingering, unanswered questions in the back of our minds, of course. Who had helped Rankin? How had he gotten past Q's security system? Was everything _really _over? No one could really say, no more evidence had been uncovered, and things were pretty quiet and peaceful, so . . .

But as you know, all good things must come to an end. Yeah, that sucks, doesn't it?

It happened on a work, sorry, _play _day, one fine, cold, and snowy December morning. Quatre and I were watching old Japanese flicks with subtitles on my computer when a voice called, "Duo! Duo Maxwell?"

I looked up from the computer screen, and my heart nearly stopped. It was like déjà vu or something, and I really _hate _déjà vu. A young man with a large vase of roses was wondering around the office. "Oh jeeze," I muttered. "Over here!"

As the guy placed the vase on my desk, Quatre's eyes grew big and round. "Do you think . . . Zechs maybe?"

I shook my head and slipped the delivery man a couple of credits, and waited until he was gone to say, "Hell no. He knows better than to send roses."

Quatre visibly gulped. "Duo, there's a card."

Cue the scary, suspenseful music.

I yanked it from its place among the flowers and flipped it open.

_I'm still watching . . ._

Yeah, I know, something _straight _out of a bad horror flick, right? Nothing to be scared of? Well, not really.

The terrifying part was that I recognized the handwriting.

It was Rankin's.

**xOxOx**

Author's Note: Hohoho, good times, baby, good times!

****

(Grumbles at the clichéd-ness that is Zechs' attitude about Duo living with him) Yes, I can see that this is probably cliché to 6x2 stories. But! I'm taking mine somewhere, so nya! Er, at least I hope?


	17. April Fools! A REAL chapter, I swear!

**Author's Note: **Oops. Looks like I confused some people as to whether chapter 16 was the last one or not. Guess I should've left you all a note. Well, as you can see, it wasn't. Um, April Fools? Hehehe . . .

**xOxOx**

It happened on a work, sorry, _play _day, one fine, cold, and snowy December morning. Quatre and I were watching old Japanese flicks with subtitles on my computer when a voice called, "Duo! Duo Maxwell?"

I looked up from the computer screen, and my heart nearly stopped. It was like déjà vu or something, and I really _hate _déjà vu. A young man with a large vase of roses was wondering around the office. "Oh jeeze," I muttered. "Over here!"

As the guy placed the vase on my desk, Quatre's eyes grew big and round. "Do you think . . . Zechs maybe?"

I shook my head and slipped the delivery man a couple of credits, and waited until he was gone to say, "Hell no. He knows better than to send roses."

Quatre visibly gulped. "Duo, there's a card."

Cue the scary, suspenseful music.

I yanked it from its place among the flowers and flipped it open.

_I'm still watching . . ._

Yeah, I know, something _straight _out of a bad horror flick, right? Nothing to be scared of? Well, not really.

The terrifying part was that I recognized the handwriting.

It was Rankin's.

I stared down at it, totally dumbstruck and frozen in place. Quatre ripped it from my tight, sweaty grasp and frowned. "What is it, Duo? Why are you looking like that?"

Was the fear _that _evident on my face? Apparently so, because now Quatre was gently pushing me down into my office chair, which I narrowly missed and almost hit the floor. "Rankin . . ."

"What about him?" Quatre demanded.

"That's his handwriting!" I managed to get out.

" . . . Duo, that's impossible. Rankin is dead—"

I leapt up and took the note from Quatre and waved it in front of his face. "Don't you think I know that? I'm the one that put the freaking bullet between his freaking forehead! And since he was the one stalking _me_, don't you think I'd _know _what his freaking handwriting freaking _looked like_?"

Quatre clamped a hand over my mouth—we were getting strange looks from people in neighboring hell pits. "Calm down! Now, are you _sure _that this is his handwriting?"

"Yes! Yes, I'm positive!" And I was. It was that same crazy man chicken scrawl that I'd seen before. I knew it.

"What's going on?" Heero came by the desk, and began glaring at the roses. "Will you move those? They're making me sick."

Okay, déjà vu all over again. Didn't I already say that I _hated _that? I shoved the note under Heero's nose. "Look. It's from Rankin."

Heero didn't even look at it, he just scowled at me. "Impossible. The man is dead. He is no longer capable of thinking, writing, walking into a store and ordering you flowers. Rankin sending you a note defies all laws of science and logic as we know it—"

"_Thank _you, Bill Nye," I muttered. "Then how can you explain the fact that this is _his_ handwriting?"

Heero took a closer look at it. "Are you sure?"

Oh my god. What was _wrong_ with them? "Yes! You know what, never mind. I'm going to call Alex, he'll know what to do with this." I turned my back to them and began rummaging through my desk. I was sure that I had one of his cards in there some where, even though I hadn't called him since the Rankin case closed months ago.

I heard Heero mutter, "Go find Merquise and the others," to Quatre, who quickly went off to do just that.

Damn, damn, damn. Where the hell was that card? I continued to shuffle until Heero picked up the phone and gave it to me, reciting the number that I needed from memory. I glared at him and dialed.

"Hello, this is Detective Walker. How can I help you?"

I hesitated for a minute. "Walker? Is this . . . I thought this was Alex's number."

" . . . Duo? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Oh. Well, after Rankin, Alex quit the force." He gave me a dry laugh. "Turns out he had a law degree hidden in the back of his closet. He traded his badge for a corner office, a six figure salary and a snappy suit. He's a lawyer now."

Wow. Okay, that came as a surprise. "Ah."

"Is there something you need?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I think I have another problem. I just got a delivery of roses at the office with a note. Written in Rankin's handwriting."

"Are you sure?"

What the hell? "Yes!"

"Alright, alright. I'll be over as soon as possible. Stay calm, and don't leave, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." With a heavy sigh, I sat back in my chair and rubbed my face warily.

I didn't see Zechs approach, but I heard his deep demand, "What's all this about Rankin?" He stooped down at my side and took my chin in his soft grasp. "What's going on?"

I told him, he looked at the note, and then sighed heavily. "Did you call for someone?"

"Yes. Detective Walker."

Zechs raised an eyebrow. "Not that Benito man?" he asked. Did I detect a hint of relief in his voice?

"No. He's not a cop anymore. He's a _lawyer_."

Quatre, Trowa and Wufei joined us, and now it was like we were having a Gundam Pilot convention. I had to fill the newcomers in _once again_, and of course no one believed that the note was from Rankin. But it was in his handwriting, no one could deny that.

Not even Detective Walker, whose face went a little white as he took in the message. Obviously, he recognized it too. He slipped the note into a plastic bag and said, "Well, I'll get this down to the lab right away and have someone take a look at it. Rankin couldn't have possibly written this, but someone did a pretty damn good imitation. I'll call you all with what I find out right away." He handed me a card and was about to walk away when I called him back.

"Hey! Do you have Alex's number? I'd like to talk to him." Next to me, Zechs stiffened. It wasn't what he thought. Seriously. Walker flipped the card that he'd given me over, wrote a number on the back and left.

Needless to say, none of us felt like sticking around much after that, so we all left, except for Zechs, who stayed behind because he had real work to do since he was of-age. I went to Quatre's new mansion where we sprawled out in the living room and lazed about.

Quatre and I were on our laptops, making the arrangements for our special Christmas getaway that was coming up in a few weeks, which conveniently took my mind off of the note. Quatre had this fantastic cabin up in the woods that we'd be staying at for the holidays. All of us would be going—yes, even Heero and Wufei. I _know_! Can you imagine how difficult it was to get them to say yes? Basically I called them every five minutes asking them to come, and eventually they gave in. Haha.

I was really excited about this trip. Zechs and I would be free to be ourselves, we'd share a bed again, and no one would care if we sucked face all over the place. Well, okay, maybe Wufei, but so what? He needed to liven up a bit.

I was all done ordering stuff off of the internet, and now there was something else I had to take care of. I took my cell phone, hid in the corner of the room and dialed Alex's number. I had a hunch about something, and if this hunch paid off, then I would be one lucky bastard . . .

**xOxOx**

The next day, by the time our work day ended, we still hadn't heard anything from Walker. I headed over to Zech's place and after an enthusiastic romp in the gigantic bed followed by a steamy shower, we decided to order some Chinese. Only ten minutes after we called the restaurant, there was a knock on the door.

I checked out the little hole in the door. Oh damn. Relena!

I must've forgotten to mention that Miss Pink Princess was still around. I didn't get it. Surely she had other places to be and other things to do, you know, like babies to kiss and old white men to pass legislation with or something, but here she was, renting a place somewhere near the city. I'm not sure what she wanted, or what she was trying to do, but it was annoying. I opened the door and plastered a fake smile on my face. "Hello. How are you?"

"Just fine," she replied, stepping into the living room.

This was not the first time that we'd met like this. She was probably getting suspicious as to why I was always at her brother's place, but we always blamed it on work. I couldn't tell if she bought it or not.

Zechs came from the back of the flat, and thankfully his hair was dry, because mine certainly wasn't. "Relena, what are you doing here?"

She started to open her mouth, but then she glanced over at me. "Can I have a moment with Zechs please?"

"Ah, sure." I went into the kitchen and turned on the small flat screen TV there. I pretended to watch it, but out of the corner of my eye, I sneaked peeks at the two. Yeah, I'm a sneaky, suspicious bastard. So sue me.

Relena took something—a baby blue envelope—out of her black handbag and handed it to Zechs without saying a word. He took it and stared down it warily.

"Tell me you'll read it," Relena pleaded.

Zechs sighed. "I don't know. There isn't anything that could be said to change my mind about this. I've moved on."

Relena hesitated at that. "Moved on? You mean you've found someone else?"

"Relena . . ."

"Read it, please. Promise me you'll read it."

"I will. But as to what will happen after I do, I make no promises. Is that understood?"

She sighed with relief. "Oh, yes, of course. Just consider it, please?"

"Of course." Zechs tucked the letter into his pocket and then artfully changed the subject. "Duo and I ordered Chinese. Would you like to have some?"

"Sure!"

Oh jeeze. This was bad. I _knew _that she was up to something, and it just had to be that she was trying to get someone to come in between me and my boyfriend! Of course, she didn't know this, but still! Back off! Zechs was mine, damn it, and no other man was going to break us apart. I would see to that.

Dinner wasn't all that great. I was itching to look at the envelope that was folded up in Zech's back pocket, but I very well couldn't feel him up to cover my pick pocketing it because his _sister _was sitting right there! I never got my hands on the thing, because Relena and I left at the same time. Darn!

I didn't like it that my man was getting strange letters from an ex. I didn't like it one bit.

**xOxOx**

You know what was great about Zechs being older than me? No, it's not that he can buy beer, but that he doesn't sit in a cubicle—he has his own office! Une put him in charge of training a group of new members, and he's got his own office with a window, a rolling chair and a big desk. The best part is the desk, of course, because unlike Q and Tro who are forced to go into the _public _restroom if they ever got that . . . ahem, _urge_, Zechs and I can easy duck into his office and make use of that _wonderful_ desk. And we have, plenty of times, I can _assure_ you.

We were just about get busy on it, I was lying back on the desk and I had his shirt pulled out of his pants when someone knocked on the door. Zechs growled into my neck.

"Who is it?" he demanded gruffly. Oh, he sounded so hot when he was angry.

"It's Quatre! Detective Walker is here to talk to you, Duo," Q called from the other side of the door.

We were up, our clothes straightened out in seconds, and we were back out in the main office where Trowa, Quatre, Heero and Wufei were waiting with the detective. As we joined the group, my hands began to sweat like crazy and my heart raced.

"What's up, Detective?" I asked cautiously.

"I've got some good news for you, I think. We had the note analyzed," Walker said with a small smile. "It _is _Rankin's handwriting, but then again, its not."

I scratched my head. "Wait, what?"

"Let me explain. Apparently, someone checked out several pieces of evidence from our storeroom a few days ago," Walker said. "Among this evidence were several of Rankin's journals taken from his cabin, along with other things that he wrote. With those, it would be fairly easy for someone to scan in the materials, do a little cutting and pasting and cleaning up, and they'd be able to make a pretty good imitation of his hand writing."

I let out this huge breath that I hadn't realized that I'd been holding. "So . . . it's not real?"

"No. The lab analyzed the note—the paper is standard printer paper and the ink is from a normal printer."

Of course it couldn't have been Rankin. I'd gone to the morgue, I'd seen him lying there on that table, it was me who but the bullet in his head. Of course.

Quatre looked very disturbed. "Why would someone do that? I don't understand."

"The police never did track down that person who was supposedly helping Rankin," Trowa muttered.

Walker nodded. "That's what we think. We suspect that the same person is responsible for the note. Unfortunately, who ever this was used fraudulent identification to check the evidence out, so the chances of us tracking this person down are slim at best."

So. Someone wanted to scare the hell out of me . . . before they came to hack me to death? Whoever the heck this was _had _to want me dead—because that had been Rankin's ultimate goal too. And here I was, just getting comfortable with my life again, and now _this . . ._ Damn.

"I'll advise you to be careful," Walker said to me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

After a few parting words, I wandered back to my cubicle and stared blankly at the computer screen. Zechs followed me, concern obvious on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, glaring slightly at two women who were leering at us out of the corner of their eyes.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I should've known that—" My cell phone suddenly began to ring, and when I looked at the caller ID, I knew that I had to take this call. I flipped it open. "Yeah?"

"Duo?"

"Hi Al . . ." I glanced at Zechs quickly. He looked very curious as to who was calling, but if I told him that it was Alex, he just might flip. "Alexandria," I said neatly. "How are you doing?"

There was a small cough from the other end. "Alexandria? Oh, let me guess, Merquise is around."

"Uh, yeah."

"Hmm. Well, I got your message. You sure you want to do this?"

"I'm positive. You _can _help me? I mean, do I have a chance?"

Alex laughed. "Hell yes. This is going to be the easiest case I've had yet. No problem."

Well, that was certainly good news. "Ah. So, what'll be your fee?"

"Nothing."

"Ha. Very funny. How much?"

"Nothing! I don't charge for favors. Besides, I'll barely have to do any work. I'd feel really wrong for charging you."

". . . If you insist."

"I do."

"Okay. So when can we do this?"

"How about next Friday, nine a.m.? I'll set it all up if you can make it to my office."

"That's fine. I'll be there. Thanks for doing this."

"No problem. I'll see you then."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and sat back in my chair. Great. Things were going just as planned . . .

Zechs cleared his throat loudly. "What was all of that about?"

I turned to face him and smiled. "It's a surprise, Daddy. You'll just have to wait and see."

He looked skeptical. "Is that so?"

"Yep."

". . . alright," he replied casually, turning away and walking towards his office. Then he paused and said over his shoulder, "I trust you, Duo, so that means that I have faith that you and Alex won't be doing anything you shouldn't be at your little meeting."

I gapped at his retreating back. How the _hell _had he known that!

**xOxOx**

Zechs was trying to be very cool about my not-so-secret meeting with Alex, but I could tell that it was bothering him a little bit. He was a tad bit grumpy, even after I explained to him that it wasn't a _romantic_ meeting—we weren't going to a Motel 6 with a box load of condoms and chocolate covered strawberries or something. He didn't understand why I wouldn't tell him what it was about, but I didn't think that was all that fair. I mean, when I tried to ask him about past lovers in an attempt to find out _who the hell was sending my man love letters_ (!), he just shrugged it off and danced around the topic. Well, buddy, two could play that game, so there.

But didn't I mention that I was a sneaky little bastard? Yep, yep, there's no shame in _my _game—I didn't mind doing a little digging to try to find out what the hell was going on. While Zechs was conversing with his sister on the phone in the kitchen, I wandered into the back of his study, looking for that _damn _letter. I know what you're thinking, but I just couldn't leave it alone. I had to know who that letter was from.

The drawers in his desk revealed nada, and I was just about to head to the book shelf when something blue caught my attention. There, jammed in the paper shredder, was a bit of blue something or other. The envelope that Relena had given Zechs had been blue, right?

I was over there in a quick second. Sure enough, a bit of the envelope was stuck in the gears. Carefully I yanked it out, and was disappointed to see that the piece that I'd managed to find didn't contain anything on the outside that would help me identify the jerk. Damn. I peeled away the mangled bit of envelope and took out a piece of the letter. Only the blank margin remained. No help there.

The rest of the envelope was shredded beyond hope, so I stuck the bits back in their original position just in time. I heard Zechs coming and dashed over to the bookshelf, grabbing the first book that I saw.

Zechs stood in the door frame. "What are you reading?"

"Ah . . ." I stared down at the cover of the book. Oh hell. My face caught on fire. "Um, _50 Pleasing Positions_. Yeah, real informative stuff here."

Zechs laughed. "Feeling adventurous?"

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm just wondering why the _hell_ you have this on your shelf."

"To use with you, of course." The smile on his face was devastatingly handsome and my knees almost turned to mush.

I sashayed up to him with the book close to my chest. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to it—fifty is a lot."

Well, I hadn't found out the identity of that mystery writer, but you know, I did learn _some _things—I was a lot more flexible than I'd thought . . . and number 48 was pretty damn good.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Hope you don't get fooled by anyone today. Personally, I'm terrified (I live in a college dorm . . .) Good luck to all!


	18. Of Mice and Men

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the wait. I had two tests last week, and then I came across a minor writing block. Here you go, new chapter. Not sure how I feel about this one, so please review.

**xOxOx**

Across from me at the long conference table sat two balding, overweight white guys, both looking around nervously and sweating stains into the armpits of their crisp polo shirts. Next to them, their lawyer was shuffling through a bunch of papers while doing his best not to look at me.

Ah, yes, they were literally squirming in their pants, and they had every reason to.

I grinned at the large fellows and said politely, "Can I get you gentlemen anything? Coffee? Water? Should I turn up the air conditioning?"

The heavier man, Charles I think he said his name was, pulled at his tie. "Ah, no. No need to do that."

"Are you sure? I just want you two to be _comfortable_." I sat back in my chair leisurely and began picking at my fingernails.

Before either Charles or his partner Gary could reply, the lawyer cleared his throat. "Where is Mr. Benito? We're ready to get started and he's late. This is _very _unprofessional—"

Alex came into the room just then, and I must say that he'd done well for himself. It was the first time I'd seen him since the Rankin case ended, and I was quite pleased to see that he was dressing snappy, and that he still looked good.

"Sorry I'm late, gentlemen," Alex said sternly, sitting next to me.

"Let's just get to business," the lawyer said. "My clients are willing to settle this matter with Mr. Maxwell out of court. How does seven million sound?"

I raised my eyebrow slowly, dramatically and watched Gary and Charles squirm even more. "Seven million? You have _got _to be kidding me."

"Duo is right," Alex said coolly. "Do you honestly expect him to accept such a low offer, considering the amount of money that your clients have made _illegally _using _his _name?"

"We'll go to twenty!" Charles exclaimed suddenly. Promptly, he received a death glare from his partner and his lawyer.

"That's better," I said, "but still not enough. Tell 'em what I want, Alex."

Alex pulled a document out of his briefcase and slid across the table. "That is _our _offer to your clients."

Charles and Gary's lawyer took the papers and read it, then turned to his clients and began whispering. After a few minutes, Gary scowled at me and exclaimed, "You want us to give _you _the rights to the fan club! I don't think so!"

I looked around innocently. "Well . . . I _am _the one and only Duo, so shouldn't I have rights to something like that? Besides, you dudes were claiming to be official, and you're nothing of the sort. You used my name without my consent to make a profit. I could take you to court, shut you all down and take every cent you ever made from if I wanted to." I paused, giving them the evil eye. The pit stains nearly doubled in size.

"But I'm not. I'm going to let you keep the money you all made from the fan club . . . minus thirty million, and I want everything to do with That means any future profits will be mine."

I paused again for theatrical effect more than anything else. "So the choice is yours. Either I take everything you have, or I let you keep most of it, except for the fan club. Which will it be?"

Bwahaha! I could tell from the look on their faces that they knew that they were backed into a corner. After a few minutes of consulting with their lawyer (in which I whispered to Alex my eternal gratitude), the big guys were ready to take my deal and sign over the fan club and thirty mill to _me_!

Their signatures were on the dotted line in a flash.

If only Solo and the others could see me now.

I, Duo Maxwell, was _rich_!

**xOxOx**

After the successful meeting, Alex took me out for a celebratory lunch to a swanky and very exclusive little restaurant where I ordered the best they had, and together we popped open a bottle of (fake) champagne and began sipping.

We had a table near the window, and I had this lighter than air feeling in my chest. So I ended up sitting in the chair grinning at myself in the shiny glass. Life was getting better and better. I had a fine man, and now, a lot of cash. All I needed to do was clear up that, ah, _minor_ issue of someone trying to off me . . . hmm.

"So," Alex said, sitting back in his chair and smiling, "what exactly are you going to do with all of your money?"

I turned away from the window and signed happily. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe get a better place to stay in?"

"Not the customary, I'm going to Disneyworld response?"

"Nah. I'm thinking the Bahamas."

He chuckled. "That would be nice. So, how are things going?"

I knew that wasn't the end of his question. "You mean, how are things going with Zechs?"

"Yes. That's what I meant."

"Things are going very well," I replied honestly. "Well, we're not living together for various reasons, but we have great sex and we have a good time. Did that sound shallow?"

Alex laughed. "Sort of."

"What I feel for him is hard to describe. It's not just sex, or having a good time. It's more. He makes me feel . . ." I gulped down some of the faux bubbly stuff and shrugged. It was not something that I could explain. "What about you? How ya been doing? Got a special man in your life?" I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.

"There are a few . . . possibilities," Alex said evasively. "But I'm focusing on my career right now."

"Aww. You should get out, try to find someone. I'll help if you want."

"I'm fine! It's not a big . . . uh oh."

"Uh oh what?"

Alex slowly set down his glass. His eyes were focused on something over my shoulder. I turned a bit . . . uh oh indeed. Zechs was standing on the other side of the glass with a shopping bag from a fancy store in his hand, a furious look on his face.

Oh jeeze, he had the wrong idea! I barely had enough time to get out of my seat before he stalked away.

"Damn," Alex swore. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." I sighed heavily. "I need to go—"

"Of course. Should I . . . do you need me to go with you or . . .?"

"I'm okay. Thanks, I'll call you later." I dropped a few credits on the table and rushed out of the restaurant. Out on the street, I didn't see Zechs anywhere, but seconds later I saw and heard his car speeding out of a parking garage on the next block over.

_Oh shit_, I thought as he almost ran over a little old lady. He was _pissed_.

**xOxOx**

About ten minutes later, I stood outside of Zechs' door with the key that he'd given me in my hand. I took a deep breath, steeled myself for . . . well, whatever. I opened the door and closed it quietly behind me. Zechs was standing, brooding in front of the wall of windows, his back to me.

"Um, hi," I said cautiously.

He didn't turn around, but pointed to the shopping bag that looked as if it had been tossed haphazardly on the couch. "I saw that shirt in the store and immediately thought of you. I thought you might like it."

Okay, ouch. Basically he was saying that he was the thoughtful lover and I was the two-timing bastard. I took two steps forward. He tensed up in response. "Thanks. I . . . look, it's not what you think."

He whirled around. "Not what I _think_? So I _didn't _see you in the restaurant, sipping champagne and laughing with that detective? Who was it then—your twin?"

"Let me explain—"

Zechs stalked over to me. "I _thought_ that we shared some kind of trust, Duo. I believed that you weren't seeing him behind my back—"

"Will you just shut up for a minute so that I can explain! I was _not _at that restaurant with Alex because of some . . . some . . . some _romantic _liaison, okay? We were celebrating this really big case that he won for me, and that is all!"

The look on his face softened a _bit_. "What _case_?"

I walked around him and flopped down on the couch. "I wasn't going to tell you until I got some of the money in so that I could surprise you."

"What _money_?" Zechs sat across from me. "What the hell have you been up to?"

"I got full rights to my fan club, and tens of millions of bucks. I'm going to be a millionaire in a few months," I grunted. This was not the way that I'd envisioned telling Zechs that he no longer had to financially support me. I'd been thinking a party on a big ass yacht, a hot air balloon ride, a—

What was this? Why was Zechs looking so upset, so disappointed? "What's wrong? You're not happy about that?" I got to my feet. "You won't have to pay for my apartment anymore, you won't have to buy me fancy clothes or—"

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I _enjoyed _doing those things for you?" He stared blankly at the wall for a moment before turning to face me.

I didn't know what to say. While I made this whole plan up in my head, the only outcome that I'd foreseen was Zechs being really happy. I hadn't known that he would be . . . _pissed off _about me wanting to take care of myself. "Actually, no I didn't. I hadn't realized that it was _that _important to you," I replied honestly. "But you have to understand where I'm coming from, Zechs. Living out on the street, hustling and stealing and starving sucked big time, and I don't ever want to go back to that life."

Blue eyes flashed at me dangerously. "You won't have to! I can—"

"Yeah, well, who the hell says that you're going to be around forever, huh?" I demanded. Why was my voice so tight? Why were my eyes burning? And was that _snot _threatening to fall from my nose! Okay, I was not going to cry. I was _not_. "What if something were to happen to you? Then what? I'm sorry that you don't like the fact that I'm doing my best to be self-sufficient, Zechs, but that's just the way I am!"

He didn't say anything.

"I'm . . . I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I—"

"No. I understand."

I sat next to him on the couch. "I want to be your equal, Zechs. I don't want people to go, _oh look, Duo Maxwell, street trash using Zechs Merquise for his money_ . . . I just want you and everyone else to know that our relationship isn't about that." I paused and smiled. "Excuse my sappiness."

That got Zechs to chuckle. Just what I'd been going for. "You have every right to want to seek some security for yourself." He got to his feet and walked off into the kitchen. "I just like taking care of you. I don't think I will ever forget the look on your face when I put those car keys in your hand."

"Believe me, Daddy, the look on my face wasn't completely from the fact that I had a wickedly cool car. It was there just because you were thoughtful enough to get it for me."

That made Zechs smile as he reached into the wine chiller and took out a bottle, along with two glasses from the cabinet. "Shall we do some celebrating of our own, then?" he asked.

I laughed softly. "Why Mr. Merquise, are you trying to get me drunk so that you can have your wicked way with me?" I fluttered my lashes at him as I shook my hips up to the bar in the kitchen.

Zechs raised a blond brow at me. "Since when have I needed to get you drunk to do _that_?"

" . . . good point."

We sipped at our respective glasses for a while. After about five minutes, Zechs said, "Well, congratulations. What are you going to do with all of that money?"

"I dunno. Whatever it is that rich people do with their cash, I guess?" To be honest, I really had no idea. "But no matter what I choose to do with it, you'll always be at my side, right?"

Ohh, I guess I'd said the magic words, because then he smiled so beautifully at me.

"Of course. Now, how about we go try out number 35?"

**xOxOx**

It was late that night when I left Zechs' flat. I was sooo tired (we'd gone through a hell of a lot of numbers in that book), and I was just ready to get back to my place and hit the bed. So I sped all the way back while blasting rock music in an effort to keep my eyes open.

Scaling those flights of stairs was like_ murder_.

Murder? Oh jeeze, what a bad choice of words there, I guess. Haha.

You see, I didn't even have time to turn on the lights—as soon as I stepped through the front door, I was tackled from the side. Surprised, the breath flew from my lungs as I hit the floor, and for a second there, I think I was out of it.

But, you know, a dangerously sharp kitchen knife gleaming in the moonlight would snap someone back to reality.

I rolled to the right just as the blade hit the hardwood floor. I stumbled to my feet and grabbed my attacker's wrist as the knife came at me again. I squeezed down hard on the person's wrist, weakening his grip on the weapon. It clattered to the floor, but I didn't have the chance to pick it up because I found myself being shoved into the edge of the kitchen countertop. I could only kick it away and hope that the thing went far out of my attacker's grasp.

Hands were at my throat now, pressing deep into the skin. I brought my legs up and wrapped them around the person's waist. Then I _pushed _away from the counter, and we fell together down onto the floor—internally I rejoiced at the loud crack that I heard as his head hit the floor. The hands loosened, so I pried them off and got up, stumbling away and grabbing for the gun I had in a small, innocent chest that I had stored on a shelf in the living room. I only managed to get one shot out before my attacker tripped out of the open door and into the night.

I quickly locked the door and went into my room with gun in hand, where I locked myself in and immediately called the police on my house phone, Zechs on my cell.

The cops were there in ten minutes. Zechs was there in four.

And boy was he pissed! Apparently he'd gotten a glimpse of the bullet hole in the wall and had assumed that I'd been hit and just hadn't told him, but he was very relieved to see that I wasn't bleeding anywhere.

I answered the standard questions for Detective Walker (Did you see the person's face? No, was wearing a mask. Male or female? Coulda been either. Skin color? Was wearing a black sweat suit from head to toe. A voice? Didn't say squat), and then after they all determined that I had nothing useful to tell them, I went back to Zech's flat.

When we got inside, he had me strip down (to check for injuries, you pervs) and then promptly tucked me in for bed despite the fact that I had so much adrenaline running through my veins that I wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon.

He didn't leave the room. He just sat there in the dark on the end of the bed like some weirdo. I could feel the heat of his eyes on me, and it was kind of creepy.

"Hey," I said softly. "You're probably exhausted. Why don't you come and get some sleep?" When Zechs didn't move, I added, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be here when you wake up."

The got Zechs up on his feet. "I have some calls to make. I'll go to bed in a little while." Then he left.

Okay. It was three something in the morning—just who the _fuck _was he calling? I suspected that had just been an excuse

I waited up as long as I could for him—an hour and a half—but then, my high wore off and fatigue set in. I was asleep before I even knew it.

**xOxOx**

"That's right, Mr. Maxwell and I will not be in today due to extenuating circumstances," I heard Zechs say as I slowly woke. I'd been sleeping practically on top of him, and the soft rumbling of his chest had snapped me out of my slumber. Umm, what a nice place to be, especially after last night . . . ugh. Speaking of last night, my body was aching _all over_ the place. Argh.

I sat up and rubbed the gunk out of my eyes. "Why are we skipping work?"

Zechs sat down the phone and gave me an "_are you crazy" _look. "Because someone tried to _kill you _last night. Remember?"

I blinked. "Oh yeah."

"Oh yeah?" His eyes drilled into mine. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Should I be hysterical, flipping out, crying or something?" I rested my head back against the pillows. My back felt like hell.

" . . . you don't seem to be feeling much of anything about this."

What was I supposed to say? I'd been attacked—wasn't the first time, that was for sure. The peace and tranquility of my life had been broken with that fucking note . . . I was feeling a little numb, like I didn't want to acknowledge that _anything_ had happened at all.

"Sorry Daddy," I muttered. "I'm just tired of this. I don't . . ."

He dropped a soft kiss on the top of my head. "I understand. I've got this . . . appointment, but I'd rather not leave you. Will you come with me?"

What was up with him being all mysterious? "Ah, sure. Why not?"

After a soothing bath, we got into his car, and I was surprised to find myself back at my apartment, where several big guys were waiting for us. When I saw the name on their shirts—Alonz Security—I knew why they were there.

I was getting a state of the art alarm system, courtesy of Zechs . . . which, I suppose, would've been a good thing to have in the first place. Maybe that's why he was so angry last night?

So I just sat on the couch quietly as he directed the security guys, despite the fact that internally I was cringing at the amount of money . . . ah, _his _money being spent on this thing. I guess I would just have to accept the fact that Zechs was going to spend big bucks on me, at least until my settlement money came in.

Hours later the security men were gone. Zechs and I took our time inspecting _everything_—we liked to think that we learned _something _from the Rankin incident.

**xOxOx**

Needless to say, all of the others were quite angry when they heard of the latest attempt on my life over dinner that we were having the same night at my place. To shut them up I gave them a tour of my new security system and told funny stories about how Zechs and I had already tripped it ten times since it was installed earlier that day.

"So there we were," I whispered conspiratorially as I leaned over the table, making sure my eyes were big as could be, "minding our own business . . . in the bathroom . . . taking a very nice bubble bath . . . _together_ . . ."

Wufei groaned loudly and covered his face. I kicked him under the table.

" . . . and all of a sudden the alarm goes off, scaring the _bejezus_out of us, and soapy water goes flying everywhere! As you can imagine, we're not doing a very good job of getting out of there with all of that slippery stuff covering _everything_—we're slipping and sliding . . . and there are these cops outside banging on the door, threatening to come in if we don't open the door _right this instance_—"

Quatre gasped. "They didn't come in, did they! Did they find you two—"

"Just in the nick of time, I managed to slide my bare ass across the bathroom floor, into my bedroom and out into the hallway. I _did _answer the door before they came in . . . but unfortunately, I'd forgotten to put a towel on, so I was standing there with only a few bubbles to cover my bits."

I paused as the guys tried to muffle their snickering, all except Heero, who was glaring off into the distance and Wufei, who's face was screwed up in his usual 'I just sucked on a lemon' face. Then I continued.

"The two officers were beet red, and one of them threatened to take me into custody for indecent exposure or some crap! But then I reminded him that I was in my own home, so I could walk around butt naked any time I damn well pleased. And then I shut the door in their faces."

I grinned as Quatre began laughing. Heero did not look amused, and Trowa was trying not to smile.

"What set off the alarm?" Heero demanded, eyes narrow as he glared dangerously at the bullet hole. Oh man, how he freaked out when he saw that . . . _whew_.

Zechs shrugged his shoulders. "We're not sure. Each time, I checked everything and found nothing out of place."

"It's weird. We have no idea why it keeps—"

As if on cue, the shrill siren went off, and I found myself shoved under the table with Quatre guarding me as the others went off to find the intruder. Minutes later, the others were back, looking quite pissed. I got up and entered the security code and deactivated it.

"Merquise, I think someone ripped you off," Wufei said grumpily.

"I'm inclined to agree . . ."

We settled down after that. I turned the alarm back on, only activating it in places where we weren't going to be, and settled down with the group to watch a movie.

Only fifteen minutes into the film, the alarm went off again. We all spread out this time, taking various areas of the apartment. I went into the kitchen and began opening every space that I thought a human could probably fit into.

And then there came this high-pitched, girly scream (yes, _girly, _no matter how much he tries to deny it) from the back of the apartment.

I took off and followed Zechs, Quatre, Trowa and Heero into the bedroom to find Wufei standing on my bed, looking a bit sheepish now that we were all there.

"What is it!" I demanded, rushing forward, looking around. I didn't see an ax-wielding crazy guy, the boogie man, and Relena sure as hell wasn't here, so what the hell had all of that been about? When he didn't answer, I yanked him from on top of the bed and watched curiously as he danced out of the room and into the hallway on the tip of his toes.

"Something big and . . . and _furry_ ran across my feet!" he declared. "It ran underneath the bed! You're _infested _with_ beasts_, Maxwell!"

Immediately, Heero drew out his gun from his Black Hole of Weaponry (still haven't figured _that _one out), but I shoved it away and got onto my keens to peer under.

Laughing, I said, "Well, I see two furry somethings, but they sure as hell ain't big!" I reached under and caught the offending things in my grasp, clasping my hands together tightly. "Someone get me a vase or something deep, please?"

Zechs returned with a relatively deep bowl, and I gently emptied the contents of my hand into it—two small, frightened white mice. We'd found our culprits.

Quatre immediately began gushing. "Aww, look at them! They're so cute!"

"Yeah!" I agreed. "And you _scared _them Wufei! Shame on you, you big meanie!"

He mumbled underneath his breath, turned red and stalked away.

I took them into the living room and sat them on the counter and stared at them as they huddled together. "What do mice eat anyway?"

"Uh . . . cheese?" Quatre suggested.

"Good thinking!"

The night ended without any more incidences, and eventually they all left (Wufei sent the mice a dirty look on his way out . . . haha). Zechs was reluctant to leave, but was comforted by the fact that the alarm indeed _did _work, if a little too well. I wasn't about to let some nut job run me out of my own home, damn it. I'm a Gundam pilot!

Well, Gundam pilot or not, I locked the door _very quickly_ behind him, inspected every nook and cranny of the apartment and then set the alarm. Hey, I may have kicked some mobile suit booty, but a little extra security never hurt anyone.

As I got ready for bed, the total silence began to unnerve me. Call me a chicken if you want to, but I didn't like it one bit, so I dragged the television into my room, plugged it in and turned it on to the Weather Channel, leaving the volume up a little.

Bathed in the soft blue glow of the television, I slept with the mice on the table next to my bed and imagined that they were big guard dogs that would bite the hell out of any bad guys who dared to come after me. It helped. Just a bit.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Was Duo's case a load of bull? I don't know, call me in seven or so years when I'm through with undergraduate and law school, and I'll be able to tell you. Oh, and I've gone to sleep to the Weather Channel plenty of times. Always works for me. Highly recommended.

More seriously evil stuff on the way, I promise. I'm cackling just _thinking _about it . . .


	19. Christmas in Spring Time

**Author's Note:** Hmm, apparently I don't know anything about mice. Oh well, it's the future where giant robot-things fly around and people live in space, so anything can happen, ne?

**xOxOx**

It had been a while since Quatre and I had gone on a decent shopping trip together, and now that Christmas was rolling around, it was time to get into our usual last-minute gift buying frenzy. We weren't the only ones with the idea—the mall's parking lot was so full that we drove around in circles for fifteen minutes before managing to sneak into an empty space ahead of a line of cars waiting. Haha.

I could tell from the start that something was wrong with Quatre. He opted out of going into the lingerie store and was really quiet the entire time. I watched him out of the corner of my eyes as he picked up a shirt, gave it a half hearted evaluation and tossed it back down.

After a half an hour of shoving our way through crowds of other like-minded shoppers, I pulled Quatre over to the food court and bought two smoothies. Then I sat him down and gave him a once over. Miserable looking, just miserable.

"Okay, what's going on?" I demanded. "Usually, I can't get you to stop smiling for a second during the Christmas season, but now . . ."

Quatre took a looong sip from his smoothie. "I . . . it's nothing. I'm sure we'll get over it eventually."

"We? Get over what?"

The look on his face told me that I'd asked the right questions, because his face collapsed and immediately he blurted out, "I think that Trowa is getting bored with me. Our . . . _spark_ just isn't there anymore, you know? I mean, you and Zechs are just so great together, and Trowa and I have been together for a while now, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to keep him happy and—"

Information overload! "Woah, woah! What the hell!" I exclaimed, eyes getting big. "Where on _earth _is this coming from? What makes you think this?"

Quatre pouted. "Yesterday I was . . . I was sneaking around the house, looking for the Christmas gifts that Trowa had bought the day before, and you'll never guess what I found."

Um, presents? "What?"

He looked as if he were on the verge of tears. "Duo . . ." Quatre leaned over the table and so did I. "I found a bag full of _gay porn DVDs!" _

I chocked on a bit of my smoothie. "What? Porno flicks!"

"Yes! I found them hidden way in the back of a closet in one of the spare bedrooms. I can't believe it! Trowa bought _porn_! And worse, all of them of _brunets_! In case you haven't noticed, I'm _not a brunet!_"

My mouth fell open. Brunets? Porn? _Trowa?_ Huh? "Well . . . I . . . I don't know, c'mon, that doesn't mean that he's _bored _or anything. I mean, maybe he wants to . . . watch them with _you_?"

"But why would he hide them, Duo, if that's what he wants to do? I mean, this room was _way _out of the way and everything. He was _hiding _them from me!"

"Er . . . maybe they were for a Christmas gift?"

He glared at me. "I _found_ the presents. The DVDs were somewhere else entirely."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. I don't know what to do! If he's getting bored . . . What do you and Zechs do? You two look so happy—"

I shook my head. "Look, our relationship is _new_ and besides, it isn't all flowers and puppies and sunshine. We have our fights."

Quatre frowned. "About what?"

"Well . . . see, not too long ago I had Alex work this case for me—a settlement to keep the whole mess out of the papers. I've been getting enough attention with Rankin and stuff. Basically, I got control over and a few million—"

"What! You what? And you're just now telling me! Way to go!" Quatre smiled, momentarily distracted from his romantic troubles. "So you're going to be rich?"

"Not as rich as _you _or Zechs, but yeah, I'll be pretty well off."

"That's great!"

"Well, yeah, I thought so too, but Zechs was angry. Apparently he _likes _being my sugar daddy. Makes him feel good."

"You two fought over that?"

"Yep. I'm just saying that every relationship goes through its ups and downs. You and Trowa have been on a pretty long 'good' streak, so you're bound to come across some issues once and a while. But I don't think you've got a damn thing to worry about," I replied honestly. He didn't look convinced, so I added, "But if it still bothers you, maybe you should just _ask _him?"

Quatre blushed. "Could you imagine? _Trowa, can I talk to you about that porn that you have tucked away in the closet?_ Jeeze . . ." He sighed and tugged at his shiny blond locks a little too roughly. "You think I should dye my hair brown like yours?"

Quatre R. Winner with _brown _hair? That was just wrong. "No! Look, just . . . play it cool. Talk to him after the holidays, okay? Just be straight with him, be calm and try to understand where he's coming from."

"Right. You're right." We got up to continue our shopping with seemingly renewed sprits.

Quatre's not as slick as he thinks he is. I saw him buy that box of chestnut brown hair dye.

**xOxOx**

"JINGLE _BELLS_, JINGLE _BELLS_, JINGLE ALL THE _WAAAAY!_ OOH . . . _SOMETHING_ BLAH, SOMETHING-SOMETHING BLAH—!"

Wufei brought his duffle bag up to smack me in the head with it, but I dodged swiftly and laughed. "Will you _shut up_!"

I laughed even more, licking at a snowflake that landed on my nose. It was as cold as hell outside, but I really didn't mind because I was so _excited_! The time had finally come—we were at Quatre's place, packing our bags into our cars, and in a few minutes, we'd be on our way to the cabin for a holiday full of eggnog, cider, mistletoe and gingerbread men! Oh yeah!

Quatre rolled a giant suitcase from the house and out to his car, where I helped to heft it into the back. "What's wrong, Fei?" he asked with a grin on his face. "Someone's being grouchy today . . . Where's your holiday spirit?"

He scowled at the two of us, and then at Shinigami and Lightning (my two mice companions who apparently were to become test animals for the scientist guy next door) as Zechs loaded their cage into the back seat of our car. "If Maxwell could actually _sing_ and knew the _words_, then I wouldn't have a problem." Wufei turned on his heel and stalked up towards the house, calling over his shoulder, "And you better keep those beasts away from me during this trip or else!"

"Yes sir!" I called out and then rolled my eyes at Quatre.

He threw his arm around me and pulled me close. "I am really looking forward to this trip. We can get away from it all, forget all of our problems . . ."

Like someone trying to hack me into tiny pieces or your boyfriend sneaking porno into the house? I'm game. "I know. This is going to be the _best_."

Finally all of our things were packed away and we hit the road. Zechs let me play all of the Christmas carols I wanted—_he_ seemed to enjoy the fact that I made up words as I went along, unlike some uptight jerk that I am not going to mention. The ride up to the mountains was two hours, with one small stop for breakfast, and by the time we arrived, the sun was just beginning to reveal itself as the sky showed a hint of pink.

I was out of the car even before it came to a stop and gapped up at the majesty that was Quatre's "quaint" cabin in the woods. It was one of those real log ones and boy it was _huge_, with a triangular roof and everything. In seconds I was up on the porch and pressing my face against one of the windows.

"Maxwell," Wufei growled. "Come and get your bags, damn it!"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Forget the bags for now! I want to get inside!"

Quatre left his stuff and joined me, unlocking the door and rushing inside. We both shrieked—it was freaking _cold_! Quatre began searching for the thermostat and I flicked on the humongous gas fireplace in the living room, going "oooh" as a flame shot up from nothing.

Once all of our junk was in the middle of the foyer, Quatre and I sprinted off in a hunt to claim the best room for ourselves. I didn't know a thing about the house, but I figured that Quatre did, and as he headed towards a room, I followed and eventually shoved him into a closet before he could get into the room of his choice.

Yes! This was obviously the master bedroom, because it had the tall triangular windows and a balcony that allowed for a _spectacular _view of the mountains and stuff . . . ohhh, a fireplace and woah, was that bed BIG! Jackpot baby, yeah!

"Okay, that was _not _fair," Quatre grumbled, entering the room with a huff.

I made a face at him. "No one said anything about being fair."

Quatre shrugged and poked me in the shoulder. "Fine, fine, take it. Enjoy."

But then I remembered Quatre's complaints about the declining amount of spark in his relationship with Trowa, and decided that they could use the romantic setting more than Zechs and I could. So, being the _good _friend that I am, I selflessly relinquished it to Quatre. The things I do for him, sheesh . . .

After all of the unpacking was done, Quatre and I decided that it was a fine time to go into town to get some supplies. Our main goal was to score some really cool decorations—secretly we had a night long decoration marathon planned . . . all we had to do was get Wufei and Heero on board. We'd figure that part out later. Coercion and blackmail was _not _out of the question.

We packed into Quatre's SUV (where I belted out more carols, much to Wufei's agitation) and headed down the mountain a bit and into the bustling winter town. I was amazed to find that the place looked as if it had been snipped out of a magazine or something—old fashioned lampposts with garland and white lights winding up them, blinding white snow covering the roofs and the store fronts with immaculate decorations. Wow, talk about a Winter Wonderland!

Trowa parked in front outside of a grocery store which, given the time of day, was unusually crowed with kids and parents. Once we were inside, I knew why.

I turned to Quatre and grinned. "Oh, look, its _Santa!_ Wanna go sit in his lap?"

Heero grunted and gave me a dirty look. "There is no such thing as Santa. I've been to the North Pole, and there is no such man, there are no elves, and no flying Reindeer, and certainly not ones with glowing red noses. None of it is real."

I winced as several children within hearing range started to cry while their scandalized parents began shuffling them away from us. Rolling my eyes, I said, "I know that, Heero! Jeeze, I was just joking. Come on, let's get to shopping."

We began to move past the Santa set-up and all of the kids, but stopped when "Santa" suddenly said, "Ho ho ho! Wait a minute there young man with the braid! Come up here, Santa wants to have a word with you!"

The crowd turned to look at me expectantly, and all of the children with bright faces and smiles and snotty noses who were looking at me made me a little nervous. "W-who, me?" I squeaked out.

"Yes, you! Come up here, young man!" As an after thought, Santa added, "Ho ho!"

Trowa snickered and pushed me forward. "Go on, Duo. You don't want to disappoint all of the kids, do you?"

Oh jeeze. I began slowly approaching the big Santa throne, and on my way, I heard one girl whisper to her buddies, "He must be very special for Santa to ask for him!"

Someone Up There was having a grand time at the expense of my dignity. I vowed to suck it up . . . for the kids.

An elderly woman posing as an elf forced me to sit on Santa's lap. I was red, I'm sure, and I looked at everything _but _the faces of my friends because more likely than not they were laughing at me. I turned to face the Santa guy and smiled. His belly was obviously fake, made of pillows or some junk, and his beard was coming off in the corner a bit. His glasses were missing the _glass _and his face actually looked quite young.

Man, kids actually _believed _this stuff?

"Well, young man," he said loudly, "what is _your _name?"

"Ah, my name is Duo." Erk, what the hell? Was that _Santa's _hand snaking around my waist? Oh, yes it was. His gloved hand rested on my hip, pulling me a little closer.

"Duo? What a nice name. Pleasure meeting you."

"Uh, likewise big guy."

Santa gave me a look that was most certainly _not _appropriate for kids, but it was gone before he turned back to the crowd. "See kids, Christmas is for people of all ages. Remember that as you get older, you can still enjoy the Christmas spirit! Right, Duo?"

"Erm, sure!"

The crowd began to clap, and I noticed that Quatre was one of the loudest.

"Now, Duo," Santa whispered to me, his voice husky. "Have you been a . . . _good_ boy this year?"

That sounded really, _really _dirty coming from this guy. "Oh no, I've been _horrible_, absolutely _terrible_. I took candy from babies, stole from the old, the poor and the blind. You know, all that jazz. With that said, uh, don't you think you should get back to the kids?" I tried to stand up, but he pulled me right back into his lap.

"Now hold it, Santa has to know what you want for Christmas." He leered at me and licked his lips.

Oh, yuck. Santa was _hitting _on me! "Nothing. I have everything that I could ever want. Yep."

"Well, that's too bad. I'm sure that there's _something _that I could do for you. How about—"

Thankfully, the old woman swooped down and declared that it was time for me to move on and handed me a candy cane. When she turned her back to us to pick the next child out of the crowd, Santa did the unthinkable.

He pinched me on the ass.

That candy cane nearly slipped down my throat as I let out a soft squeal of surprise. I was out of his lap and back at Zechs' side in a flash. I jabbed the other end of my candy cane into Wufei's gut as he laughed loudly at me. "Shut up, you."

Then we began shopping for groceries. Periodically Quatre asked me if I was alright, because apparently, my face was as red as a tomato, but I denied that anything was wrong until he questioned me for the umpteenth time as I was reaching for a turkey.

"Alright, damn it, alright! That freaking Santa pinched my ass back there!" I cried as I waved the frozen poultry around dangerously in the air. "Okay! That's what happened! Santa tried to hit on me!"

The guys just gapped. Well, Wufei was trying his best to stay on his feet as he burst out laughing, but the others had a totally surprised look on their faces.

"Look, can we just get this stuff and go?" I dropped the bird into the shopping basket and pushed it down the isle fiercely.

No one said anything about it as we checked out and bagged our food, but just as we were exiting, "Santa" minus his beard approached us, or more specifically, _me_.

"Say," he said with a grin. "How about we meet up somewhere sometime soon? What do you say?"

Without that beard, I could tell that he was indeed quite young, maybe our age. But still, you shouldn't try to feel someone up while you're playing _Santa_. That's just pathetic! Thankfully, I was saved from having to say anything by Zechs, who stepped forward and grabbed the man by the fluffy white color of his Santa suit.

"Look, _Santa_," he growled, "why don't you get lost before I shove that hat so far up your ass that you'll be _eating_ the white pom pom on the end, alright?" Then he shoved the man back roughly.

"Oh! Dude, sorry! All you had to say was that he's taken," the young man said, putting up his hands. Then he turned to Quatre and said, "So, what about you? Are you—"

Trowa leveled Santa with an evil glare and a growl, which sent him running back into the store.

Heero nodded approvingly. "Good work, Merquise."

Zechs grunted and began moving towards the SUV. We followed, putting all of our stuff into the back. Just as the others began getting in, Quatre and I dragged them down the street to a little store that sold Christmas decorations that we'd read about online, which was supposedly one of the best around.

Some _intensive_ shopping was done there, much to Wufei's annoyance. (Maybe we should've left him at the cabin—all he did was bitch.) And Heero was pretty much the same, especially when Quatre and I tried to put a star that we were thinking about buying on the top of his head, just to see how it would look. Spoil sport. Luckily, Zechs was willing to be our stand in tree, and we ended up getting it.

Next, we drove down a little ways to a tree place and bought a _real _one. Quatre and I just sat back and sipped on hot chocolate as we watched the others struggle to strap it down to the roof of the SUV. After that, we headed back up to the cabin.

We were all hungry and the day was already almost over, but unfortunately, there were no Chinese, Italian or pizza joints that would deliver to our location, so it was up to us to make something to eat. I figured that it would be good practice for the Christmas dinner that we would have to make in a couple of days, so Quatre and I, under the watchful eye of Zechs, cooked a chicken that we'd bought at the store, along with some side stuff. When it was time to eat, everyone was a little nervous.

Quatre and I began loading the dishes onto the table in the dining room at which the others were sitting, anxiously (fearfully?) awaiting the feast. When I brought out the chicken (which I was very pleased with, thank you very much), their jaws nearly hit the floor. It was a perfect golden brown and honestly smelled quite good. As I began slicing away at the breast, Wufei sighed.

"Alright Maxwell, how the _hell_ did you get someone to deliver that up here?" he demanded suspiciously.

"Wuffers, I am so offended," I said easily, shoveling a bit of the meat onto a plate and passing it down. "You have that little faith in me?"

"Actually," Zechs commented, "Duo and Quatre _did_ cook that. They're not that bad, as long as someone is there to make sure that they don't get distracted from their task."

Dinner was a pleasant affair. The food was surprisingly good—score one for me and Quatre!

We completed the lovely day by setting up the Christmas tree. Quatre and I made sure that it was a group affair and that _everyone _(yes, Fei and Heero too) got in on the action, and together we put the star on the top. Then the lights went out and the tree lit up, and I was very proud of our hard work. Zechs took me into his arms and I sighed happily.

Christmas morning was beautiful. Fresh snow was falling, Quatre and I had gotten up early to make not only breakfast, but some gingerbread cookies as well to get that full holiday feeling and carols were blasting from the surround sound system.

I could barely keep myself from ripping at my presents as we sat down for breakfast, but Q and I were done with our food in ten minutes and were on our knees with several gifts in our lap as soon as we were done.

I was a little surprised to find that Heero had done some shopping a) alone and b) even for Zechs. Wufei had as well. It was so nice, now he was _really_ part of our group. It left me with a fuzzy feeling inside.

The best part was when Wufei opened his gift from Trowa. After stripping away the silver wrapping paper, he was greeted with a plain cardboard box. "What's this?" he asked Trowa.

I rolled my eyes. "You have to _open _it, duh!"

He pried the top opened and then his face became redder than a Christmas light as he saw what was inside. "What is this, Barton!"

Quatre and I tried to peek inside the box. "What's in it? What's in it?" we chanted over and over again until Heero snatched the box from his lover's tight grasp and dumped the contents onto the floor.

The gay porn DVDs featuring hot brunets that Quatre had been worried over, still wrapped up in their shiny plastic covering, stared up at us. I snuck a glace at my friend—he was just as red as Wufei. Ah, yes. Heero had brown hair, didn't he? Bet he's glad that he didn't use that hair dye now.

Trowa grinned slowly. "I kept thinking of that day at the restaurant, where we were talking about X rated things when I was shopping for you, Wufei, for some strange reason. I just thought that you could introduce Heero to the fine art that is porno."

Wufei pressed his lips together, gathered his videos and threw them back into the box, vowing under his breath that they would never see the light of day. Yeah, right.

I was quite pleased with the loot that I came away with, some of my favorites being a super cool leather jacket from Trowa and the plasma television, which was one of the many, many, _many _gifts that I go from Zechs. I swear that the man went way overboard, but there wasn't anything that I could do to kill his sugar daddy obsession, so I just went along with it.

Later that night as Q and I began introducing Shinigami and Lightning to their new habitat, a gift from Wufei of all people, there was a knock at the door. We exchanged a look—who knew that we were out here? Not very many people . . .

Zechs beat me to the door, and in stepped Detective Walker with a very serious look on his face. I shivered slightly as a rush of cold air followed the man in. Uh oh. What was it now?

"I'm sorry that I have to bother you all with this on Christmas," he said, looking around at us, "but it is rather important."

"Good news or bad news?" I asked hesitantly. Knowing my luck, it was going to be—

"Bad, I'm afraid. Duo . . ." Walker sighed. "There's no easy way to tell you this, so I'll just say it. Your apartment building caught fire early this morning. There's no hope of salvaging anything."

Um, haha? This had to be a joke. Some silly, way-before-Aril-Fools-Day, totally _evil_ prank? _Right?_ "Are you serious?" I demanded, getting to my feet.

"Unfortunately, yes."

The room was silent for a few minutes.

"Was anyone hurt?" Quatre asked, his brow wrinkled into a frown.

Walker gave him a careful look before answering. "No. No one was hurt."

"Well, that's good," I mumbled. "What happened? I mean, have you all figured it out yet?"

Walker nodded, slowly looking around again. "The building, thankfully, was stable enough for us to go into and take a look around. We were able to determine from witnesses and our preliminary investigation that the fire originated in _your _apartment."

Oh, shit. What the hell had I done to start a fire? Had I left the stove or the oven on? I had left something plugged in? Maybe it was that damn blender—

"We're one hundred percent positive that it was arson."

Erm. I needed to sit down. I plopped my butt down on the floor and stared up at the detective in a daze. Zechs came to my side and gave me a supportive squeeze on the shoulder. "Arson?" I squeaked. "You're sure?"

"Yes. Whoever the culprit was didn't try to hide the fact," Walker said with a shake of his head. "We were immediately suspicious when we stumbled over several kerosene cans on our way in."

"What could have been the possible motive though?" Wufei demanded angrily. "Duo was not there, a simple search would've shown that. What was this person trying to do?"

"Scare the shit out of him," Trowa mumbled. "Same with the note."

I blinked rapidly. "Oh jeeze. I . . . I . . . is there anything else?"

"No. Just be really careful, okay? Report anything suspicious to the authorities immediately." After a few parting words, he was gone, and we were all very quiet.

I stumbled to my feet and picked up the mice's cage from the floor, setting it gently on the table. "Well, so much for the _best Christmas ever_," I mumbled grudgingly.

"Duo . . ." mumbled Quatre sympathetically.

"At least I'm alive, right? And I've got Zechs, and you all, and Shini and Lightning and . . ." But then I thought of all of the things that I'd lost—all of the personal mementos and photos that were now nothing more than piles of ash. All of those things, those memories of my friends and my life since the war—gone. I could buy a new bed, a new sofa, a new blender, but those things were gone forever.

"Excuse me," I muttered, stomping through the cabin into the room Zechs and I were sharing where I violently began kicking at the large oak dresser. "Fucking! Sicko! If I _ever _get my hands! On! That looser, I swear! His balls! Are! Mine!" I declared, punctuating my speech with an occasional kick.

Zechs came in and gently steered me away from the poor, beat up piece of furniture and sat me down on the bed. "Calm down, just calm down . . ."

I took in deeeeep breaths. "I'm calm. I swear."

"Now, there are some very important things that we should be doing, alright?" he said gently. "Who's your insurance company? We need to give them a call so that we can file a claim, okay?"

"Right. Insurance company. Claim. Calm. Sure. What else?"

Zechs looked deadly serious. "And then I have to call and get your name put on the security list as a permanent resident at _my _building. You're moving in with me."

Oh. Well. Okay.

"I was stupid to leave you in that apartment on your own after the attack. What if you'd been in there, sleeping? What if you'd been trapped? So now you're going to move in with me, where I can keep a better eye on you."

"Yes Daddy."

"Good. Let's get to business."

I decided to let Zechs handle everything. I figured that he had some kind of clout and could get things moving a little faster for me . . . that, and the fact that my brain was still fried from learning that my apartment had been torched on purpose. So I sat on the floor staring into the cage as Shinigami and Lightning ran around together, kinda sorta listening to Zechs deal with the insurance company on my behalf, but mostly not.

I was looking into that cage, but I wasn't seeing at thing. I was still so angry at the whole thing—I hadn't been the only victim. There were other people, innocent people, who had nothing to do with Rankin or anything, who were now homeless with nothing to their names other than the clothes on their backs. I felt at fault somehow. If I'd never moved in there, these people would still have a roof to sleep under and all of their things . . .

"Duo. Duo!"

I looked up. Zechs was towering above me, a very worried look on his face. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is everything okay now?"

"Yes, the claim has been filed, but it will be some time before you get a check from them," Zechs muttered. He rubbed his face and helped me off of the floor. "Come on, let's get to bed."

After checking in on the mice one last time, I followed Zechs to the bedroom where we go ready in silence.

Sleep did not come easy at all, but when it finally arrived, my dreams were full of smoky and fiery terror.

**xOxOx**

It probably goes without saying, but the next morning, no one was really in the holiday mood anymore, so we cut our trip short and returned to the city. It was probably for the best, a lot safer for me and stuff. We all parted ways once we hit the city limits, and I begged Zechs to swing by the apartment complex. I had to see the damage for myself.

He protested at first, but eventually relented. Slowly we drove by, my face pressed against the car window.

Oh wow. The place was charred—still standing, but barely. My heart clenched up at the sight of it, a strange sense of terror flooding my body. _Now _it was real. And someone meant business.

The ride to Zech's flat was pretty quiet, and once we were inside and Zechs began putting away his things, it hit me. All I had left to my name was what was in the small suitcase that I'd packed earlier that week. That and my Christmas gifts. Oh jeeze . . .

I sat down on the couch and rubbed furiously at my face. Okay, so now what? It would be a while before the insurance money came in, and I wouldn't be getting any money from my case settlement for months . . . I would have to charge up my cards. Those interest rates would be kicking my ass! And—

"Hey, what are you thinking?" Zechs asked softly, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss me on the top of the head.

I laughed a bit to make him feel better. "Oh, just that if I don't wash the little bit of drawers that I have left sometime soon that things will be getting a _bit _unpleasant around here in a little while."

Uh, he didn't really see the humor in that, I guess, because he stalked away into his study and shut the door. Sometimes, I swear . . . that dude has some major PMS issues.

I gave Shinigami and Lightning some fresh food and water, and them began going through the things that I had left, and then began compiling a list of things that I would need to buy . . . _that _list was much bigger.

Depression was setting in a little bit—I was drowning in all of this. I took a deep breath and sat on the couch. Okay, no more thinking about it. I was going to watch my favorite crazy-people soap, pig out on some popcorn, go to sleep and then get into work the next morning, where I would actually try to _work_ to earn the money that I needed to buy my things back. Real work. Yuck.

When Zechs and I got into the office, I was bombarded with concerned (nosy) coworkers who I'd never spoken to or even seen before in my life asking me a million questions about the fire—apparently the tabloids were printing that I had actually _been _there and had nearly died, if not for the fact that I'd leapt out of a window on the (nonexistent) twentieth floor. Um, yeah. I'm not Heero.

So things went like that until New Year's Eve. Zechs hosted a bash for us at his flat, where we would have a perfect view of the fireworks from his wall o' windows. Quatre and I forced party hats onto the heads of Wufei and Heero as they came through the door, cranked up the music, and then proceeded to have a damn good time. There was champagne and snacks and so we broke them out and . . . well, as you can imagine, by the time that midnight rolled around, we were pretty sloshed. But hey, I'd had one _hell _of a year, so I think I deserved it! Don't you? Exactly.

As the countdown began, I stood in Zechs' arms, hoping . . . wishing . . . _praying _that this year would be better than the last.

**xOxOx**

After New Years Day, we all went into work as usual. We had no reason to suspect that anything was different—the work was as boring and pointless as it had always been, some jerk was still hording all of the sprinkle-covered donuts for himself from the break room and the cubicle was just as hellish as ever.

Around lunch time, a low buzz of whispering started to fill the office and I looked up from my work to see Detective Walker and a few other cops walking towards me. Oh, wait, no . . . they were going past me, and it was the really serious look on Walker that caused me to get out of my seat and follow them.

They stopped at Quatre's cubicle. He looked totally surprised and stood up. "What's this all about?"

Walker stepped forward. "Mr. Winner, can you turn around and place your hands behind your back please?"

The alarm on Quatre's face was apparent. "Wait, what is going on? I—"

My heart stopped as Walker took out his cuffs, and then said, "Quatre Winner, you are hereby under arrest—"

And as if _that _wasn't bad enough, he added, "—for soliciting the murder of Duo Maxwell."

Well, it was official—this year sucked _big time._

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Been waiting to do that for a while. I just figured that it was time to spread the torture around. Didn't I say that a lot of people would become suspects? Mwahahahaha!

If you see mistakes, please tell me. It's late, I'm sleepy. Thanks for reading.


	20. Paranoia!

**Author's Note:** Yes, I watch a lot of "Law and Order", but I also did a little research for this chapter, so I hope that everything is correct. This was a really tricky chapter to write, so feedback is much appreciated.

Also, since a few people have been asking me, I might as well let you all know that yes, I will _probably_ do another GW fic, another 6x2. I already have some things scribbled down for it. It'll be another "whodunit" and I'm sure that you'll never guess what's going on. Bwahaha! I'm not sure, though, if I want to keep with the tone of this story—it might be a little more serious. We'll see.

**xOxOx**

Later on, we all would joke about how the New Year started off with one hell of a bang, but at the time, seeing my best friend handcuffed and hustled out of the building for supposedly trying to kill me was just _not_ funny.

I stepped forward quickly but Walker's backup blocked my way. "What the hell are you doing!" I demanded. "Let him go! He hasn't done anything!"

I was ignored, of course. One of the other cops gripped Quatre's shoulder and began leading him away when I heard a startled exclamation from behind me. I whirled around to see Wufei and Trowa pushing through the crowd that had gathered to witness the latest office drama.

"What is going on?" Trowa demanded. His face was twisted into the most furious death glare that I'd ever seen on him.

Quatre tried to turn around but was forced forward by the cop. "Trowa! Help me, they're—"

"Don't say a thing," he instructed. "I'll call a lawyer," and he stalked off to do just that.

I watched helplessly as Quatre was taken away. Almost immediately the office filled with the thunderous noise of gossip spreading throughout the building. People were looking at me curiously—I gave them the finger and a nasty look.

"Duo," Walker said sternly, pulling me to the side. "You need to come with me. I have some questions—"

"Yeah, well, I have some questions for you, too, buddy. Better believe _that _one." I gave him the evil eye. "Will I need a lawyer or something?"

"Do you have anything to hide?"

Alright, smartass, I was _so _not in the mood. "I'll call Alex and meet you down at the station in ten minutes, okay?" Without waiting for confirmation, I found Wufei, let him know whether I was going and left, phoning Alex on the way to the precinct. He met me there where Walker immediately ushered us into a room.

"If you think that I'm going to say something to incriminate my best friend, you're dead wrong," I said steely the second that Alex and I sat down in the cold questioning room.

Walker's eyes flashed as he leaned over the table. "And if you think that I won't toss your ass behind bars for obstructing justice, then _you're _dead wrong."

Alex bristled next to me. "Watch your mouth."

"I don't care that you want to jump his bones, Alex," Walker said rather bluntly. "Just because we were partners once doesn't mean that I'm going to cut you—or him, any slack."

Since when had _he _been such a bitch? I guess arresting a prominent man like Quatre _would_ go to your head, but seriously, come on now. He must've taken Wufei's stick from up his ass when he wasn't looking and put it in his own. "Fine, I'll answer your damn questions."

"Good." He produced a tape recorder and hit the record button. "You met Quatre Winner during the war, correct?"

"Duh. Everyone knows that. We've been _friends _ever since," I said confidently. "He wouldn't _ever_—"

"And you've also known Trowa Barton since the war?"

" . . . yeah, but not as well. It wasn't until after the war and when he and Quatre started seeing each other that we became better friends."

"Why is that?"

"How the hell should I know? That's just the way it turned out. I kind of helped them get together, and since Quatre and I are best friends, it would make sense for me to get to know Trowa more." I paused. "Look, are you going to tell me what the hell is really going on? What makes you think that Quatre tried to hire someone to kill me?"

Walker hesitated. "Have you heard of Gregory Weston?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "_Should_ I know him?"

"Think a little harder. Surely you know of Tonik."

Oh! Quatre's hair product company! Okay, but what did that have to do with . . . anything . . .

_Hot damn._ That guy had been arrested for trying to hire someone to off his wife! I blinked frantically at the table top. What could this mean? Surely a coincidence! "Okay, so, this Weston dude was arrested for trying to do his wife in."

"For _hiring_ someone to do it," Walker clarified.

"What the hell does that have to do with Quatre or me?"

"Weston is claiming that some time ago, Mr. Winner asked him for the name of the hit man that he was hiring. Said that he was interested in using his services as well. We're thinking that that night in your apartment, when you were attacked, was supposed to be—"

"That's ridiculous! That guy is just looking for a plea bargain!" I exploded. "First of all, Quatre has no reason to want me dead, and secondly, if he _did_, then he'd do it his damn self because—" Ahem. Maybe I should stop right there. That tape was still rolling.

"Have you found any evidence supporting this claim?" Alex asked. "You have to admit that this man's statement isn't enough for a prosecution, and barely enough for an arrest for that matter."

The detective looked annoyed. "I cannot divulge anymore information about the case."

In other words, no, there wasn't any evidence to support it, or at least not much. How the hell had he gotten an arrest warrant for Quatre then? That just didn't make any sense.

"So you're saying that you have no idea why Winner would want you out of the way?" Walker asked doubtfully.

"That's what I'm saying. We're friends."

"What about Barton?" Huh. It was quite obvious that _that _was the conclusion he wanted me to draw. Should've just come out and said it, damn it! "There were rumors going around that maybe the two of you had something going on together." He produced several tabloids from a manila folder, all with speculation about the nature of my relationship with Trowa on the front cover.

Damn, I hadn't realized that these rumors were that serious. I mean, there _was_ that stupid online poll, but . . . none of us read those trashy tabloids, so we wouldn't have known what was being said. I raised my eyebrow at the detective. "So your proof consists of a bunch of _tabloids_? C'mon, you're gonna have to do better than that, buddy."

"You're denying it then."

"Of course I am! There is not, has never been, and _never will be_ anything between me and Trowa. Quatre knows that, we've already talked about it!"

"So this has come up between the two of you?"

Oops. "Yeah. Like, _once _or something. There was this poll on my fan club. It was really stupid. That was a long time ago, we talked and we settled the matter." I laughed a bit. "You think this is about Trowa? That's dumb."

"How so?"

"In case you haven't noticed, detective, I have my own man." I glanced at the tape recorder. Who would be hearing this? "I'm not telling you who, because it doesn't matter. But the fact is that for months now, I've been seeing someone and I haven't been spending a lot of time with Trowa since then. Quatre has no reason to suspect that I'm secretly after Trowa or anything."

"What about Barton? How does he feel about you?"

"We're _friends!_" I exclaimed. "If you want to know more about what Trowa feels, it seems quite obvious to _me _that you should ask _him_ . . ."

Alex pursed his lips. I guess he didn't like my insolent tone. Well, tough nuts. That's what you get for arresting my buddy on b.s. charges. "Don't worry, we will. If he indicates that something more is going on than you're admitting to—"

"You'll put me in the slammer, yeah, yeah whatever. Are we done here? I'd like to go find my friend."

Walker glared at me. "Get out of here, but make sure that I'll be able to find you for further questioning if needed."

Alex and I left the interrogation room where I immediately turned on my cell phone. As I expected there were several messages from the guys, and apparently Quatre was already being taken in for arraignment! Alex and I sped down to the court room and made it there just in time to see Quatre coming in, looking dejected and stunned. I made sure to sit on his side and at the front. I wanted the judge to see me sitting there. Maybe it would help.

The judge on the bench—the honorable Judge Paterson—was a fairly young looking African American man, who was giving Quatre the eye. Good or not? I couldn't tell.

"Alright," Paterson began as he shuffled through the case papers on his desk, "Let's get this over with. How will the defendant plead?"

Quatre's lawyer, a tall and thin lady with dark hair said fiercely, "Actually, we're asking for this case to be dropped with prejudice, your honor."

Argh, I hate legal jargon. "What does that mean, Alex?" I whispered.

"That means that the charges won't be able to be brought against Quatre again. _Without_ prejudice means that they can."

Oh, okay. With prejudice, then!

The state's lawyer, a fat guy with gray hair, puffed up like a bird. "Dismissed? I don't think so! We are _very _confident about this case, and the state wants Mr. Winner remanded without bail. Mr. Winner is a _very _wealthy man, with his own private jet, space shuttles, not to mention at least one house on every continent—"

Quatre's lawyer huffed. "There is no reason to punish my client for having money. Mr. Winner is an upstanding member of this community. He's participated in many peace conferences, and he's one of the top ten philanthropists in both the _colonies _and on earth—"

"He's also a war criminal who knows the ins and outs of concealing his identity and escaping from captivity!" The prosecutor's face was bright red now, and I was sure that little specks of spit had flown from his mouth.

"My client _resents_ being called a war criminal! He fought for peace!"

The judge rubbed his face. "Enough! We are not here to rehash old wounds from the war. On what grounds should this be dropped?"

"We are appalled at the state's _gall _to arrest my client on such flimsy evidence. There is simply not enough against Mr. Winner. All they have is speculation and a few statements from questionable sources. This has been nothing more than a witch hunt brought on by the state—if you just look at the evidence before you I'm sure—"

The judge opened a folder in front of him and skimmed it. "Ah, I see. You do have a point."

The other lawyer began to squirm. "Your honor—"

"I am in agreement that this is not enough for an arrest." Paterson gave the prosecution a level glare. "There is as of yet no indication if this is indeed a "witch hunt," but I advise the state to tread a little more carefully. I'm afraid that they've jumped the gun in their excitement to nab such a high profile individual; however, since this is a serious charge, I am dismissing this case _without_ prejudice. If the state can get their act together, they can file again. Mr. Winner, you are free to go for now. "

Letting out a relieved sigh, I stood and watched as Quatre was released from the handcuffs, but before I could say a word to him, Trowa swooped down and ushered him away, most likely from the prying eyes of the press that lay in wait outside of the courtroom.

Quatre was now out of police custody, but the charges could always be brought up again . . . Well, I'd just have to figure this out before that happened. And I would if it was the last thing I did.

I wanted to find and talk to Quatre, but there was something I had to do first. It was time to do a little research.

**xOxOx**

I could hear Wufei ranting before I even opened the door to Quatre's mansion. When I got inside, I found him stalking around the living room, spouting out something about the corrupt justice system, blah, blah, blah. Heero was sitting on the couch scowling at the wall and Zechs was no where to be found.

"Duo!" Wufei exclaimed. "What the hell is going on!"

I sighed warily. "Fei, if I knew, then I'd tell you." I plopped down next to Heero and kicked off my shoes. "This is all I know—apparently, the cops think that Quatre asked that guy that worked for him—the one that tried to bump his wife—for some assistance in doing the same to me. Because apparently, I'm hot for Trowa."

Heero's brow wrinkled even more. "Hot for Trowa?"

Jeeze, he needed to get out more. Seriously. "They're trying to insinuate that Quatre suspects that Trowa and I are or _were_ romantically involved behind his back. Which is just false!"

Wufei shifted his feet and stared at the feet. "Well. I'd . . . always suspected . . . maybe?"

My eyes widened. That—that! Ohhh, jerk. I threw one of the sofa's pillows at him, feeling immensely satisfied when it smacked him in the face. "Shut up! I don't want Trowa. Never have, never will, got it?"

"Fine, fine! I get it."

Damn straight, you better get it. With nothing better to do, I turned on the television, but I should've known that Quatre's arrest would be the top priority of every station. I glared at the screen as the district attorney began spouting out crap about how Quatre was guilty blah blah blah and how he would be sure to re-arrest him once the case was "straightened" out.

"What the hell is _his _problem?" I muttered.

"Quatre's gundam destroyed the mobile suit that his son was piloting," Heero said. "He has fought to have us declared war criminals, taken to trial and sentenced ever since then. I suppose that he is desperate to destroy Quatre's life by any means possible."

I stared at him. Yeah, well, I wasn't about to go into how he knew that. My head was hurting enough already. Great, so this _was _a witch hunt brought on by a man fueled by revenge. Feeling just about ready to overflow with anger, I headed upstairs and into a spare bedroom to cool down. I needed to think.

This whole thing was crazy, so crazy that I began pinching myself to make sure that I wasn't having some sort of twisted nightmare. Ouch! Okay, no, I was awake. Damn.

How unreal . . . Quatre hiring someone to off me? He _wouldn't._ We were best friends, we talked about everything together—clothes, hair, food, bodily functions, sex, men . . .

Men. Love. Trowa.

Okay, so Quatre _had _gone a little scary when he thought that Trowa and I were fooling around, setting traps and junk to trip one of us up. Quatre would probably throw himself in the path of a rampaging Gundam if he thought that it would save Trowa's life. And Q would do _anything_ to keep him . . . but did that include betraying his closest pal?

"I refuse to be paranoid of my own best friend," I muttered to myself as I paced around the bedroom, nibbling on a finger nail. "Quatre would never hurt me, and not certainly over something as silly as Trowa when there's nothing going on. He knows that I don't . . . he knows . . ."

But why was that image of him buying that chestnut brown dye stabbing at me from the back of my mind? So he'd gotten some dye, that didn't mean that he wanted me _dead! _

I passed by the mirror hanging above the dresser and glared. Okay, so _my _hair was chestnut. There were plenty of other browns out there, like, um, walnut or dirt or poop, _whatever_, but he'd specifically chosen chestnut . . .

I bit into my nail, taking off a bit too much in the process. "Shit," I swore, waving my finger around in the air. "You're making too much of a big deal out of some damn _hair dye_, Duo. That doesn't prove anything." That wasn't a smoking gun, quite far from it in fact.

No. Quatre wasn't . . . he _wouldn't_ . . . would he?

Love is a strange thing. People have done crazy shit in the name of it . . . just look at Rankin. How many people were dead because of his obsession with me?

"One major difference there, Duo. Rankin was a crazy psychopath, Quatre is not. Er, as far as _I _know, anyway . . . not counting that Zero incident . . . ah . . ."

Okay, this was stupid. Seriously, like I was about to tell Walker, if Quatre wanted me dead, one, he'd do the job himself, and two, I probably wouldn't be standing in that room thinking about whether or not he was guilty because I'd either be six feet under or a vegetable in a hospital bed. So yeah, it wasn't Quatre. No way.

With a new sense of reassurance, I went back downstairs and joined Wufei and Heero.

It was around midnight when Trowa returned with Quatre in tow, shortly followed by Zechs. Q looked horrible, his clothes all wrinkled and his hair sticking up all over the place and his face scrunched up into a deep frown. When he saw that I was there, his eyes turned as big as the moon. "Duo!"

"Quatre!" I replied, and we hugged just like in those movies, you know, all slow motion and cheesy music? It was a very touching reunion. All together now . . . _aww_

He stepped back and gave me a frantic look. "You can't believe that I would—"

"Hell no!" Exactly. That's what I really thought. Right. "But we all need to sit down and try to figure this out, okay?"

So that's what we did. After ordering a shit load of pizza, we gathered in the middle of the living room. Quatre and I brought a big dry erase board from his office and set it up.

With a slice of pizza in my hand, I scribbled on the top of the board in bright red SUSPECTS. Then I drew a rather crooked line down the middle of the board, and on the other side I wrote MOTIVE.

"Okay, gentlemen, time to put on your Hardy Boys thinking caps—Nancy Drew for you, Quatre. Let's do this. Who is a suspect?"

Quatre sighed. "Me."

"WHAT!" I demanded. "Shut the hell up, Quat. I'm being serious here."

"So am I! Let's face it, I have a motive. We have to cover all of the bases, and just because my name goes up _doesn't_mean that it can't come down."

Fine. Whatever. I scribbled down his name, and under motive, I put Trowa's name. "Okay, who else?"

Everyone looked at everyone else—we were all drawing a blank. There _was _one person that I could think of, but . . . I snuck a look at Zechs. I didn't want to fight with him again, but this was so serious, and _every _possible suspect needed to be considered. Hesitantly, I turned to the board and wrote _Relena_.

Silence.

I couldn't bring myself to look at Zechs, so instead I stared at the fraying tip of the marker and shifted my weight from foot to foot.

Eventually Heero spoke up. "Relena?"

I nodded and stared at him, anything to avoid having to see what Zechs' face looked like right then. "I've had my suspicions for a while."

"And what," Zechs said dryly, "could possibly be her motive?"

I finally looked up at him. Uh oh. He didn't look too happy. "Oh come on, it's no secret that she's had issues with me ever since Heero decided to live with _me_ and not join her bodyguards years ago. Maybe she's still angry about it!"

"Or maybe she doesn't like the fact that you're getting too close to her brother," Trowa added thoughtfully.

There _was _that. Relena was obviously trying to play matchmaker with Zechs and his mystery ex, with the letter-passing and the talks and whatnot. Had she somehow figured out that Zechs and I were dating? She hadn't given either of us any indication that she had, but she could've been covering it up. Hmm.

Reluctantly, Zechs nodded. "Fine. Keep her on there."

Under motive I wrote _Heero, Zechs_. "Who else?"

Zechs was about to have his revenge, and a pretty good one too. "Benito."

"Wha?" I shrieked. "You have _got _to be kidding me! That's just stupid!"

"Is it? Maybe he's upset that you rejected him. Did you ever think about that?"

Er, no, not really. "Ah, well . . ."

"You have to put him down too," Heero said bluntly.

"Okay, okay," I added Alex, and then took a step back to look at the board. "Three people? This sucks. Here we are, some of the best minds in the universe and stuff, and we can't do better than this?"

Wufei rolled his eyes. "As much as it pains me to admit it, you are a rather likeable individual, Duo. I can't imagine that you would really have that many enemies around here."

"Why don't we determine who's the most likely candidate?" Trowa suggested.

"Good idea. Who the hell would have enough power to have me framed? Who would give Gregory Weston a good enough reason to lie about me?" demanded Quatre angrily. "I can see only _one _person on that list. I hate to say it, but Relena is shaping up to be the best suspect."

Zechs didn't look offended. "I will admit," he said slowly, "that Relena has a motive. We should definitely keep her in mind. However, I am thinking that Benito is the one."

"Of course you do, Daddy," I said with a smile. I kind of liked it when Zechs was jealous. Made me feel _loved._

After a while when it became apparent that we were all tapped out of ideas, we wrapped things up for the night. Wufei and Heero went home. Zechs and I only stayed long enough for me to reassure him that I didn't believe a word that the cops were saying and then left.

As Zechs and I got ready for bed that night, I couldn't stop worrying whether or not he was angry with me for suspecting his sister. I brought it up a few minutes after we were settled in the bed, wrapped up in each other's arms.

"Are you mad at me?"

"For what?"

"That thing about your sister."

He sighed softly. "No. You're right, she has a motive want you out of the picture. I have to accept that."

"Oh. Okay."

"Are you angry with me for suspecting Benito?"

"Not at all. S'okay."

"Good."

I couldn't stop thinking about all of my problems, so it took me a long time to fall asleep that night. But before I did, I decided that something needed to be done about Quatre's situation. I sure as hell couldn't count on the police, so it was up to me to get to the bottom of things.

Oh, yes. Mr. Gregory Weston was going to get a little visit from me before tomorrow was over. It was time for us to have a . . . _friendly _chat.

**xOxOx**

Author's Note: Yeah, about as friendly as a gun to the head. Did anyone remember Weston from way back when? Probably not. Heeheehee . . .

(sighs) Did this chapter make _any _sense at all? I hope so . . . Review please? Am I totally wrong about the law part? Let me know. (Bites nails nervously . . .)


	21. Kuchizuke

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay. I've been busy with . . . ah, other obsessions, not to mention evil college finals, crazy work hours and preparing to head out to San Diego for the summer.

**xOxOx**

When I woke up the next morning, Zechs was already awake and out of bed. It was way too early, in my opinion, but I had an appointment to keep, so reluctantly I got up and shuffled my way into the kitchen, where he was making coffee. I plopped down at the bar and rested my head against the palms of my hands.

"Good morning," he said way too happily for this time in the morning. "How are you?"

"Bah," I muttered.

Zechs chuckled and began going through the mail sitting on the counter. He took out one envelope from the stack and placed it in front of me before wandering off.

Er, ooookay. I looked at it suspiciously for a minute and then used my fingernail to slide it open. Inside, attached to a piece of paper was a shiny new credit card with my name on it. Now normally, new plastic sends me on a serious high, but for the life of me, I could not remember applying for one, and certainly not a card _this _exclusive and fancy . . .

Zechs.

I found him in his study pretending to read a book (as usual). "What's this all about?" I gestured to the card.

He didn't look up. "I just thought that you'd like to buy some clothes. You've been going a while with the little bit that you have, so . . ."

Compromise, Duo, compromise. Zechs likes being my sugar daddy, so I figured that I should let him do it once and a while to keep him happy. "Thanks. That was really thoughtful of you. When I get my check from the insurance company I'll pay you back and everything, I promise."

He glared at me. "No you won't. It's a gift. Take it and buy yourself some more clothes."

I made a show of sniffing under my armpits. "Why? Do I stink?"

Zechs laughed and set aside his book. "No, you don't _stink_. You are, however, running up the water and electric bills by washing your clothes all the time, so it is more economical for you to just go out and get more."

"Economical . . . _right_. Thanks, Daddy." I fingered the cool plastic thoughtfully. "What's the spending limit?"

"There isn't one. Buy whatever you need, whatever you want, I don't care. You should take Quatre and go and have fun."

"Ah, okay. Thanks."

I went to shower after activating the card. As the warm water ran over my face and down my hair, I couldn't help but wonder if this was like one of those things that you read about rich people doing to their boy or girlfriend—you know, giving them a credit card as some sort of a test to see if they'd charge the hell out of the card or not, to see if they liked the money more than their significant other . . . hmm.

Zechs wasn't like that, though. But to be on the safe side, I'd go easy on it. Right, easy . . .

I left the steamy shower with only a towel wrapped around my waist and went into the bathroom to phone Quatre's house.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Trowa! How's Quatre doing?"

He sighed. "Not too well. He's been moping around the house all morning."

"Aw shoot. Put him on, will ya?"

After a few minutes of shuffling, Quatre came on the other end.

"Q, I have a solution to your bad mood," I said cheerfully as I began brushing out my hair.

"What is it?"

"Shopping! Zechs gave me this new credit card, limit free baby! Time to hit the mall. I'm in serious need of some more underwear."

" . . . the mall? Shopping?" He perked up at that, just as I suspected he would.

"Yes! You up for it?"

"Of course! When should I meet you there?"

I bit on my bottom lip. I had a very important appointment to keep with a certain someone. "How about in three hours? I've got something to do in a little while."

"Okay. I'll be there."

I quickly dried my hair, got dressed and dropped a kiss on Zechs' forehead before darting out to my car.

The ride out to the county prison was pretty short, but the actual process of being cleared for entry into the visiting area took quite some time. It was kind of funny to watch the guards wave a metal detector over my braid. Heehee.

Once the Spanish Inquisition was over, I entered a large, cold room with the other visitors where I noticed that the tables and chairs were all bolted down to the floor. Ah, yeah, a _really _comforting sight to see. I sat down at a circular table (near the exit, of course) and watched as the inmates were lead in one by one with a guard accompanying them.

I couldn't help but glare when Weston came in. The skinny little weasel was drowning in his brown prison getup and looking down right miserable, which was just what he deserved. I was really quite surprised that he'd agreed to see me. Maybe he had something to get off his chest? Or something that I could _rip _off of his chest?

He sat down and looked at me hesitantly through his glasses. That's right, dude. Be afraid. "Duo Maxwell."

"That's me, buddy. And you're Gregory Weston, the punk bitch that decided to have his wife put into ground rather than giving her half of your worldly possessions," I said softly and with a pretty smile, remembering that if the guards caught any signs of aggression, our meeting would be over faster than I would be able to blink.

Weston turned red. Since I enjoyed watched watching him squirm, I leaned forward a bit and whispered, "Been bending over to get your soap much lately? No? Why don't you give it a try sometime? It's not that bad."

He glared up at me. "You wanted to speak to me because . . .?"

"Because for some strange reason, you're setting up my best friend." I leaned back and tapped my fingernails on the top of the table. "And I want to know why."

"Who says I'm setting him up? Maybe he really did—"

"That's pure bullshit, and we both know it. Quatre wouldn't _ever_—"

"Oh? Are you so sure?"

"I am _positive_. What I'm trying to figure out is what could possibly be the reason why you'd lie about this? Is the DA offering you some kind of deal? Are they offering a special plea bargain?"

Weston had the nerve to look smug. "It's _much_ better than that. But if you think that I'm telling you what it is, then you're sorely mistaken."

"Then why the hell did you accept my request to see you?"

His face turned serious. "When you asked for me, I suspected that you were going to try to figure this all out. I'm telling you to back off. Or you'll be sorry."

I couldn't believe it. This guy was telling _me _to back off? The _nerve_! "Are you _threatening _me?"

"No, I'm warning you. In case you haven't noticed, you've got some enemies in high places, and if you keep poking around, you're going to wind up—"

"Let me tell _you _something. You're messing around with the wrong man, got it? I'm not a push over, and I don't take crap like this lightly. Now either you recant your _lie_ or I will make you one very sorry individual. Do I make myself clear?"

He raised an eyebrow. "And just how will you make me _one very sorry individual_? In case you haven't noticed, I'm safely behind bars. You can't touch me here."

Complacent bastard. I smirked at him. "You're right about that. _I_ can't touch you, but I have some buddies on the street, who have some buddies in _here_, and believe me, these guys aren't anything to fool around with. One call is all it takes. One call."

He just sat there squirming, so I continued. "So you've got two choices here. You either tell the cops that you're lying and clear Quatre's good name, or you can keep doing what you're doing and have one hell of a time in the showers. Take your pick." With those parting words, I stood up and left the stricken man sitting on that cold, hard bench.

Haha. Sometimes I _loved _being a bit bad.

**xOxOx**

Quatre was standing just outside of the food court's entrance, sipping on something warm when I found him a little later that day. I couldn't help but wonder _why _the hell he was standing outside when just a foot away was the door to the mall, and coincidentally, _warmth._

That was the first thing that I asked him when I got close enough.

He shrugged his shoulders and stuck his face in the steam that was rising from the Styrofoam cup in his hand. "I didn't enjoy being photographed and stared at by everyone inside."

Oh. Jeeze, I should've known, with Quatre being so high profile and junk. "Damn, I'm sorry. Should we go—?"

"No!" He looped one arm in mine and dragged me inside the mall. "I want everyone to know that we're still okay, that we're still friends. I won't let them scare me away."

Atta boy, Quatre! Sounds like a good idea to me.

We walked past all of the gawkers confidently and approached one of our favorite stores. That card was beginning to burn a hole in my pocket, and those blue jeans sitting on that rack over there were calling my name . . . not to mention all the shoes and shirts and accessories. Let's just say that when Quatre and I walked out of that store an hour later, the store employees were wearing bigger grins than we were.

Next, it was time to visit the electronics store to replace my laptop that had turned into a melted heap of junk during the fire. Quatre and I were like kids in a candy store as I tried to replace the things that I'd lost, as well as . . . ahem, getting a _few _things that I hadn't even owned in the first place.

We decided to call it quits after that and parted ways in the parking lot. I'd barely gotten all of the day's purchases into the back of my car when the phone rang. The caller ID indicated that it was Heero . . . what could he possibly want? I got into the car and flipped the phone open.

"Yeah, Heero?"

" . . . where are you?"

"At the mall. What is it?" I started up the car and began to back out of the parking space.

I heard him sigh—he sounded a little agitated. "What?" I demanded.

"Come over to my house. There's something that I need to give you."

And that was it.

"Freak," I muttered to myself, deciding to drive _really _slowly and to take the long way to his place, but about halfway there, my curiosity got the best of me and I ended up speeding . . . and getting a ticket. Yeah, I know, damn. After the cop held me for ten freaking minutes, I rushed over to Heero's place.

As you probably guessed, Heero and Fei were living in a condo in Perfect Suburbia Land, where all of the lawns were a healthy green, the hedges were perfectly trimmed, and there wasn't a late model car in sight. There were even _white picket fences!_

I tried to avoid coming over here as much as possible, because it made me _gag_. Gah!

I'd just stepped up onto the porch when the door flew open and Heero beckoned me inside. Oh, boy, something was up. He had this awful scowl on his face as he entered the living room and stared down at a shoe box that sat on the glossy wooden coffee table. After we both stood there staring at it for a few minutes, I shifted my feet and asked, "What exactly is in the box?"

He picked it up and shoved it at me. Carefully I pulled back the lid, at which time I'm sure my eyes exploded out of my head just like in the cartoons.

I sat down on the couch and began rifling through the mound of photos that the box contained. Tons and tons of them, all photos of me and Heero during our relation—ah, yeah. Our _thing_.

" . . . you _kept _these?" I whispered. Heero had a _Shoe Box_? A _memento_ Shoe Box? What planet was I on?

I glanced up at Heero just in time to see his cheeks turn a little pink. "Well . . . yes."

" . . . _why_?"

"I don't know."

"Oh."

He sat next to me and gave me a dead serious look. "I will understand if you do not believe me, but I did . . . we had a lot of . . . good times together. I didn't want to forget them."

What? Was I dreaming? Heero was—why . . . why this, why now? "Heero—"

"I can't keep them."

"Why not?"

He frowned at the box in my arms. "Wufei found them."

Uh oh. And let me guess, he'd probably gotten the wrong idea. "Did you two fight?"

"Yes."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know."

"Jeeze . . . I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. Besides, I know that you regret burning your copies, so I thought that—"

"Woah, woah, woah! Who told you I burned them!" I demanded, blushing a bit. Yeah, after I found out that Heero had been cheating on me, I'd tossed each and every one of them into Quatre's fireplace and used the flame to make smores (which I ate until my stomach nearly imploded), and yeah, later on, I kicked myself about it, but I'd never told him that. Because just like he'd said, we _did _have some good times, despite it all.

"—you might like to have them."

I gapped at him. He looked and sounded so reluctant to give them up that it made me want to go _awww_. I put the box back in his lap and firmly placed the lid on it. "No, I'm not taking these."

He looked flustered. "But—"

"No! It's not fair that you should have to give these up just because Wufei can't seem to get the fact that you and I are _just friends_ past that thick skull of his. Tell Wufei that he and I need to have a little talk, okay? You tell him that the second he gets his bony ass through the door, because I have a few words for him. He can't expect you to—the _nerve_—I'll—"

"Thank you."

I stopped mid-rant to look at Heero. He was holding onto that box as if it were a life preserver and he was stranded out in the ocean. This meant _that_ much to him? I hadn't realized that those times we'd shared had really been special to him . . . but then again, that had been his first attempt at a normal life, to be something other than the Perfect Solider, so I guess . . .

"Hey, no problem," I replied with a tiny smile. "Put them some place safe until I can talk some sense into your boyfriend, alright?"

I was almost out of the door before I added, "Oh, and Wufei owes me seventy-five bucks for making me get a speeding ticket. You be sure to tell him _that _one, too."

I was at a red light not too far away when I got the call. I made sure that I pulled into a parking lot to park, so that I wouldn't get _another _ticket for road rage . . .

"Now, listen here, Wufei. I was having a pretty damn good day until I got that call from Heero, so now I'm kind of pissed off. Did we already talk about me and Heero? What the hell—"

"I realize that I made a mistake, okay?"

Oh. Well, that kind of took the wind out of my sails. "Good. Because he looked like a kicked puppy when I got over there."

"I'm sorry. I over reacted and didn't think clearly. I just saw those pictures and I—What would _you _have done if you'd found pictures of Zechs' ex in the back of his closet?"

Er . . . good point. I would've flipped out for sure. Hmm . . . maybe I should check his closet when I get back?

Focus, Duo, focus!

"But this is different, Wufei. You _know_ me, and you know that it's over." He didn't say anything in return. "Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, he hadn't even _looked _at the darn things in a long time? I mean—"

"The box was not covered in dust like a few other items that were with it, Duo," Wufei muttered. "I think that he's been looking at them."

Has he now? That was . . . ah, interesting to say the least. "Well, apparently, they mean a lot to him," I replied dryly. "Even _I _didn't know . . . did you apologize?"

"Yes."

"And he can keep his pictures."

" . . .yes."

Now, why didn't _that _sound convincing? "Wufei!"

"I said yes! I'm not going to do anything to them, alright? What do you think I am, some jealous female?"

Uh, maybe. "Okay. Stop being an asshole and get over it."

"I will."

"That's better." I hung up and rolled my eyes up to the sky.

What the hell was happening to the five of us? Since when had _all _our love lives and non-existent love triangles (squares?) become the source of so much tension between us? I guess that was consequence of being so close to each other—now our lives were tangled up, quickly spiraling down the toilet bowl down into the septic tank full of crap. Maybe we needed to take a break from each other to work out our respective messes? Would that be for the best?

This filled my mind as I drove back to Zechs' place and struggled to get the first arm load of bags up to the top floor. I managed to kick the door open and dropped the bags at my feet where I stood.

From the couch, Zechs looked up from the book that he was reading. "Why didn't you call me? I would've helped."

I flashed him a smile. "You can still help. There's plenty more in the car."

I could see that this made him happy, and without any griping he hauled the rest of my stuff up to the flat all by himself. The living room floor was barely visible, and I sat in the middle of it all and began searching for the laptop I bought.

"Are you hungry?"

"Am I ever," I replied, snagging the laptop box from under a pile of shirts. "What do you want?"

"Is pizza fine?"

"Pizza is _always _fine. Get my usual, daddy."

Zechs ordered the food and watched contently from an armchair as I went though the things I'd bought. It was like Christmas all over again, baby, but only better. Just as the smell of new stuff began to take over the room, there was a knock on the door. Oh, the pizza was finally here! As Zechs got up to answer, I could hardly wait to be smelling _that _rather than—

What the hell?

I stared wide eyed as Relena, who was wearing a big, bright grin stepped into the room, followed by Sally Po and Lucrezia Noin. Zechs looked equally stunned. "What—?"

And then the unthinkable happened. Noin stepped forward and threw took Zechs' face into her hands and leaned in to kiss him. On. The. Mouth.

_On my man's mouth!_

Could things get _any _worse?

Oops. Now that I'd said that, they _surely_ would . . .

Damn!

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: ****_Chapter 22 is already completed_** and everything. However, I am flying (eep!) to San Diego on May 12 . . . if I don't post the next chapter by the 14th of May, then you know what happed to me, okay? LOL. I'm terrified of airplanes, wish me luck . . .

What do you think about the whole Wufei-Heero angle? I'm on the fence. Reviews appreciated.


	22. Lies and Truth

**Author's Note:** My dad would NOT stop trying to peek at my laptop while I was trying to add a scene to this chapter, and I really don't think that he would appreciate reading what I write, so that's why it took so long.

**xOxOx**

A splash of fiery red raced up Zechs' neck in a way that I'd never seen before and spread into his face as Noin's lips met his. He stood there, stunned with his hands at his side and his eyes wide open in obvious surprise, and later I wondered if it was from the fact that she was kissing him, or that she was here in the first place. It was only _later_, though, because I wasn't really able to think much of _anything_ as I watched this happening.

Okay, so it was only for a second, it was a peck, really, but to me, the kiss lasted an _eternity_.

Could Noin be . . . was Noin _the one?_ The one who wrote that letter, the one that Relena was incessantly bugging Zechs about? My head whipped around to stare at Zechs' sister. Yep, she was wearing a smug and pleased smile on her face as she watched on.

It ended when Zechs took a careful step back, separating his lips from hers. I could _finally_ breathe. He looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights as he stared at the smiling women. "Ah, Lucrezia and Sally. It's been . . . a year? What a surprise."

"A pleasant one, I hope?" Relena urged, eyes bright and anxious.

" . . . of course." Zechs took some time to rub at his face, as if trying to determine whether or not this was all a figment of his imagination. No, Zechs, it was real, damn it. All real. "Come in, sit down . . ."

This brought all of their attention to me, since just about every surface in the living room for sitting was covered in some sort of bag. They stared at me—I stared back. "Uh . . . hello."

Relena looked hesitantly up at her brother. "Duo! I didn't even notice you there."

"Er, yeah," was all I could say.

Zechs stepped forward and quickly began moving bags away from the couch. "Didn't I tell you that Duo is staying with me now? He had some . . . issues with his apartment and needed a place to stay."

"That's nice of you to offer, Zechs," Noin said as she sat on an empty space on the couch. Relena sat closely next to her, and I could see her sneaking peeks into one of the bags. Sally balanced on the arm of the couch and also looked at the purchases with questions in her eyes.

Zechs brought a stool from the kitchen and sat on it. "You . . . look well," he said to Noin.

Noin smiled and thanked him.

I stared at the woman, unable to remember the last time that I'd seen her _so feminine_. Usually, military getups weren't flattering to the female figure, but now she was dressed in a knee length skirt and some sort of sweater top with sparkly sequins or something plastered all over it. In fact, she looked like she'd let Relena dress her or something.

"Oh, Relena lent me these clothes to wear," she clarified as she tugged at the sweater. "There was a problem with my luggage at the space port. Apparently, it's on vacation in Mexico right now, but I should have it back in a few days."

I relaxed a bit at that. Okay, so maybe she wasn't out to flatter my boyfriend with sexy outfits. Yeah. That's right.

"Don't worry, Lu," Relena said easily, "we'll go shopping later and get you some really nice things."

The other woman winced at that. I barely resisted my urge to snicker.

"Speaking of shopping . . ." Relena began, looking around.

Oh, good one. Nosy witch.

"What's all this?" Relena directed this to Zechs, not me.

"Someone decided that it would be a wonderful idea to torch my apartment for a Christmas gift," I said bluntly. I got to my feet and began picking up some bags one by one. "So I took the money I got from my insurance and went out and had some fun. I'll leave you all to your reunion."

I dragged the stuff I'd selected down the hall and into the bedroom, but not before I sent Zechs a _we__-need-to-talk_ look.

It took all of my willpower not to put my ear near the vent or the door crack to eavesdrop. Instead, I turned on the television and began pulling the price tags off of my new clothes and laying them out on the bed to admire them while ripping a butt load of CDs onto my computer. It was a pretty good distraction—the next time I looked up, an hour had passed, and I'd barely thought about what was going on in the other room.

My stomach began to rumble, and it occurred to me that I'd forgotten all about the pizza. Okay, well . . . I was the master of stealth, I'd just sneak by them and into the kitchen. They'd never see me.

I tiptoed out into the hallway and past the group as they continued to converse with each other amicably. I spared a glare for Miss Noin and headed into the kitchen.

You can imagine my surprise (and anger) to find the two boxes of pizza sitting on the counter, completely empty. The pigs, I _swear_—

"Duo?" Zechs called softly from the living room.

Great. They were all looking at me now. "I, uh . . ."

He winced. "I'm sorry. We ate all of the—"

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll just make a sandwich or something."

Noin laughed. My right eye began twitching. What _exactly_ was so funny? Because I wasn't seeing how all of the pizza being gone was _funny_.

"You should've been here. Relena ate most of it. You'll have to excuse her, she's a bit of a hog when she's hungry." Noin poked Relena in the ribs.

"I am not!" came Relena's indignant response.

Sally smiled behind her hand. "Oh yes you are."

The girls began chattering and bickering in a friendly manner amongst themselves, and I just had to gag. Did I care that Relena ate enough to feed all of the starving kids in Africa? No. I rolled my eyes and turned to the fridge where I began making faces at its contents.

"Hey."

I whipped around and almost dropped the head of lettuce that was in my hand. Zechs was standing behind me, giving me a worried look.

"What?"

"I . . . about that . . . what you saw was—"

Wow, Zechs at a loss for words? I guess having your ex randomly showing up and kissing you could do that to a person.

"Umm hmm." I wanted desperately to say more, to ask some questions, but I was vaguely aware of Noin watching us out of the corner of her eye as they continued to talk. Now was not the time. "Later, okay?"

"It's not what you think—"

"It better not be," I mumbled under my breath. "I do trust you, okay? I don't think that you're the type to two-time someone."

"I'm not."

"Okay then."

With the island blocking the girls' view, he rubbed my lower back gently. "I'll get them to leave soon, and then we can talk."

"Umm hmm."

He rejoined the group, and I quickly finished up what I was doing and went back into the bedroom after swiping up a few more bags.

I flopped down onto the bed and began munching on my food. This was just . . . argh. And I wasn't only talking about the dry and crusty sandwich in my hand, okay? How I longed for that greasy, cheesy, yummy mess, but more for my boyfriend to be sharing it with me and not in the living room with his ex-girlfriend . . . I snatched up the phone and dialed Quatre's number.

"Hello?"

"Will you listen to me while I bitch for a second?"

"Of course. What else are best friends for?"

"Good, because you will _never_ guess what just happened."

"Umm . . . there must be pigs flying now."

I snickered. "Probably, but I haven't checked. Relena, Sally and _Noin _just showed up."

"Just out of the blue? That's random."

Out of the blue? _Random?_ I was thinking that it wasn't. "Noin, you know . . . you remember how she was about Zechs, right?"

I waited for a few seconds.

"Oh hell." Quatre sighed heavily. "What happened?"

"She kissed him."

"What!"

"It was for like, _a second_, and there was no tongue or anything involved. But she felt comfortable enough to do it in the first place, with people around, and that makes me wonder . . ." I nibbled a bit more on the sandwich as I flipped over onto my back.

"What has Zechs said about it?"

"Not much, because they're in the living room having a nice and friendly reunion, but he did have the chance to tell me that it's _not what I think._ Whatever."

I heard Quatre shuffle around a bit. "I hope that nothing's going on."

"Me too." Just then, to my utter delight, Zechs came into the room and shut the door behind him. It was time for The Talk. "Look, I gotta go. I'll call you back later."

"Okay. Take it easy."

I hung up and then turned to face Zechs. "So what's going on? You and Noin were an item?"

"Yes, Noin and I were dating. We broke up some time in January of the past year."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded. "I mean, you know about Heero. Shouldn't I have known about Noin?"

He sat down on the bed next to me. "I didn't think that it would matter. Heero is around all of the time, but I never thought that she would show up here."

"Well, she's here now, damn it. What does she want? Does she want to get back with you? Was she the one sending you those letters? Is she the one that Relena's trying to set you up with? Is—"

"Hold on!" Zechs smiled at me. "Down, Duo, down."

I blushed and punched him a bit roughly on the shoulder. "Shut up. I'm just worried, alright? I don't want some woman trying to move in on my territory, ya know."

"Don't spend another second thinking about it. Even if that is the reason why she's here, I'm not taking her back."

Damn straight. Better not. "That's good."

"And to answer your question, yes, she sent me those letters, and yes, Relena has been—"

I growled and glared up at him. "Why?"

"She thought that Lu and I were the perfect couple. And Lu is like a big sister to her. They're very close, and she was very upset when we split up."

Would it be too much to ask him not to call her _Lu_ (yuck)to my face? Probably, so I decided not to say anything about it. "And why _did _you two call it quits?"

"Well . . ."

Oh, what was this? His eyes began wondering around the room, causing my radar to tell me that there was a good story here. I practically hopped into his lap and began pulling on his shoulders. "Oh, tell me, tell me, _tell_ me! What _happened_!"

He laughed a bit. "I'm afraid that you won't think very highly of me after you hear it."

"Unless you knowingly murdered a child, raped an animal or ate another human being, I don't think I'll be that upset."

The weird look that crossed his face made me laugh into his shoulder. "Okay . . . I'll tell you what happened." Zechs cleared his throat. "Some time ago, Relena was traveling around the world, making speeches and attending peace conferences, but there was a man who we suspected was following her."

"Jeeze, why would anyone want to do _that_?" I muttered without thinking. Zechs gave me a warning look. Oops, okay, okay.

"Anyway, Noin was second in command under me, and I was unavailable at the time, so when she saw the man in the crowd at one of Relena's welcoming parties, she decided to go ahead and make her move. The place was pretty crowded, and she didn't want to make a scene. The man was pretty drunk, so she invited him upstairs . . ."

I laughed. "And he _went_?"

"Yes, he did. Now remember, I didn't know anything about what was going on, and when I asked around for Noin, no one could find her. But as Relena's agents, we were supposed to wear a tracking device at all times. So I found her in the bedroom with the man, who hand his hand on her . . . well, needless to say, I was not please with what I found."

I nearly fell off the bed as I began to laugh even harder. "Oh, please continue! This is great."

"I just turned around and left, so I didn't see when she handcuffed him to the bed post—"

I began snickering.

"Not like _that_. I didn't see her handcuffing him and calling for backup. I thought that she'd been cheating on me."

"You poor thing."

He smiled a bit. "Not really. I . . . I'd realized some time before then that I wasn't . . . well, I didn't want to be with a woman, and really, I saw this as a perfect excuse to break up with her. So I jumped at the chance and told her that it was over."

_My _Zechs had done what! Too funny! "Zechs, you coward!" I cried, slapping him on the back of the head. "You couldn't just go up to her and _tell _her the truth?"

"And step all over her heart? No. Of course, I heard about what had _really _happened later, but by then I'd already broken up with her . . ." He gave me a serious look. "Noin was really in love with me, okay? She would've been devastated to know that I wanted to break up with her because she _didn't have the right parts_. I had to have a better reason than that."

"Ah. I see."

"Do you think I'm . . .?"

"Pathetic? A little bit."

"If there's one thing I have difficulty with," he said to me honestly, burying his face in my hair, "it is letting down people who really care about me."

"Oh, that's nice to know." And it was. "But if you ever decide to call it quits with me, Daddy, please have the guts to tell me the real reason why. I'm a big boy, I can take it."

His blue eyes began to shine dangerously as he pulled me closer to him. The feel of his warm body pressed against mine made me dizzy, so I dropped my head down into the curve of his neck with a soft sigh. His hands went underneath my shirt, but my back and down again, teasing with the waist of my jeans before running up the front of my chest.

"I don't think I'll _ever_ call it quits with you, to be honest." Zechs' voice was husky and low.

Oh, god, those hands . . .

Those _hands . . ._

As he lowered me down onto the bed and shoved all of the stuff I'd bought out of the way, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not Noin had loved the feeling of those hands as much as I did.

**xOxOx**

Okay, so I was officially thinking that there was some kind of conspiracy in the works here, involving Sally, Relena and Noin. I stared at the three women as they entered the office the next working day with Preventers shirts on and everything, walking closely behind Une as she gave them the grand tour of the area.

What. The. Hell.

I snapped my mouth shut as they came my way. The last thing I wanted now was to talk to them, so I 'accidentally' knocked over some pens and ducked under my desk to retrieve them as they passed by, all laughs and giggles.

Once their voices were gone, I came out and glared at their retreating backs. I needed to figure out what was going on here—

"Can I interest you in some lunch?" asked a deep voice from behind me.

I whirled around and jumped up. There was Zechs, giving me a sexy and devilish smile. Ahh, just who I needed to see. "Of course, let's go."

To my dismay, when we arrived at the cafeteria, the three girls were down there already. Zechs, being the good man that he is, felt _obligated _to sit with them. So I found myself at the table with Sally, Noin and Relena, sandwiched between my lover and his unsuspecting baby sister.

Suddenly, I wasn't too hungry anymore.

Sally eyed the two of us curiously. "Zechs, you can Duo seem to be close friends. Do you spend a lot of time together?"

"Zechs was Duo's bodyguard for a while, didn't you know?" Relena rushed in. "It would be only natural for them to be friends now." Then she smiled and changed the conversation. "Hey, why don't we give Noin and Zechs some time alone together, hmm? I'm sure that they have some things to talk about—"

"There's no need, Relena," Noin said calmly.

"What? Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? Zechs and Duo are lovers."

The fork that I had in my hand clattered onto the table. Next to me, Zechs stiffened visibly. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, how the _hell—_

Sally just gapped at us. Relena slowly turned to face her brother, face ashen and hand shaking. "Is this true?"

"Uh . . . uh . . . uh . . ." I said stupidly.

"Yes, it's true."

Relena's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Since _when_?"

"It's been a while."

"_It's been a while _and you never _told _me?" Relena got to her feet. "I—you—why?"

Before Zechs could answer, she turned on her heel and stalked away. The table was deadly silent, and I was too stunned to speak.

Zechs leveled a narrow glare at Noin. "You had _no_ right—"

"Did you really think that I was going to sit here and let you play her for a fool, Zechs?" Noin asked heatedly in a way that shocked the hell out of me. I eyed her carefully. _That _wasn't the tone I'd take with the guy I was trying to get back with. "Relena is like a little sister to me. She had these romantic ideas about us getting back together, and I wasn't going to let _you_—" she gestured to me, "—or anyone else laugh behind her back about it. It's not right."

"What the hell do you mean, _you?_" I demanded. I didn't like her tone one bit.

"That's enough." Zechs said coldly. "We're not going to have a fight here. I'm going to find Relena, and then you and I will talk." Zechs walked away, leaving me alone at the table with Noin.

"Lu," Sally said slowly, "sure there were better times and places that you could have—"

"She needs to grow up, Sally."

"Yes, but—"

"But nothing. Look," she turned to me and stared at me point blank. "I don't have a problem with you, Duo. I want to make that clear. I'm just looking out for Relena's best interests, okay?"

Relena's _best interests?_So dropping a huge bomb like the fact that her brother was screwing the guy 'responsible' for keeping Heero away from her, without warning, was for her _best interests?_

My eye was twitching, I think, and I decided that the best thing for me to do at that moment was to get up and leave. After wandering mindlessly through the halls for a few minutes, I decided to wait for Zechs in his office, but when I got there, I found that it was already occupied by Relena and Zechs.

Hmm . . . the door was open a bit . . . Yeah, I probably should have turned around and gone somewhere else, but I'm nosy. So instead I pressed myself against the wall and listened.

I heard some sniffling, and then Zechs said, "Relena, please talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I . . . Relena—"

"I'm so angry with you right now!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I can't believe—" Relena heaved a sigh. "It's not only that you're with _him_. It's more because you didn't _tell _me!"

"I knew that you would be upset."

"Were you _ever _planning on telling me?" Relena demanded.

"Yes. I don't . . . You would've known eventually because I won't be leaving him any time soon."

Oh, that was really nice to know.

" . . . you—you sound like you really lo-_like_ him."

"I do."

"Oh." Sniffle. "Well, that's, ah, _good_. And he seems to like you too."

Zechs chuckled. "I hope so." He paused for a second. "I hope that you will not give him a hard time—"

"I'll do my best."

"Thanks. Are you okay now?"

"Yes. But can I have a moment, please?"

"Sure."

I danced away from the door and pretended that I was just coming down the hall. Zechs came out and immediately spotted me. "I was just coming to look for you."

"Oh?" I rocked back and forward on my feet and looked up at him. "Ah, how is everything?"

He sighed and leaned against the wall next to me. "Fine, I think. I just wish that things hadn't gone the way that they did."

"Yeah."

"Would you mind if I went to find Noin? I'd like to have that talk with her."

His face changed, darkening a little bit. Oh ho ho! Looks like _someone's _in trouble. "No, go ah—"

Suddenly Relena burst from Zech's office and blocked her brother's path. "Zechs, don't. She was just concerned for me. Let me go and talk to her, please."

Zechs nodded after a brief moment of hesitation. "If that's what you want."

Well, hell. That wasn't what _I _wanted, that's for sure!

"That is." Relena gave me a quick, unsure look. "Well. As long as you don't hurt my brother, I do believe that everything will be alright between us."

"Relena," Zechs admonished gently. She just smiled up at him.

I, however, was a little suspicious. Did that mean that she wasn't going to try to push Noin and Zechs back together? Was her scheming over?

I could only hope. Because if Noin was set on having Zechs, then we were going to have an all out war.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **This chapter isn't working for me. It feels . . . weird. Can't explain it. Er, please review anyway? Thanks.


	23. First Comes Love

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the honest feedback on the last chapter, you guys. This chapter is much better than the last. (BluephoenixX, thanks for all of your reviews. What do you know about Laruku? Heeheehee.)

**xOxOx**

Later that same night, I met up with Q, Tro, Heero and Wufei at a casual restaurant downtown. I made sure to bring alone the shiny new card that Zechs had given me—I was feeling a little depressed, and therefore a little gluttonous. That card was going to get a _serious_ workout. And _why _was I depressed?

_Because my boyfriend was out with his ex!_

. . . okay, _and_ his sister and Sally.

But I could not understand why he would be willing to sit down at dinner with the woman who exposed his secret to his unsuspecting sister.

Zechs didn't want any tension, he'd claimed, since Noin and Relena were still really close. Humph. Whatever.

Well, at least I would be hanging out with the old gang once again. It had been a while since we last got together, _really _got together, just the five of us going out and having fun. Still miffed at that dry ass sandwich from the other day, I was ready to kick back and enjoy a nice and greasy dinner—whoops. That did _not _look good.

The other guys were already sitting at a table, but from five feet away I could tell that things were a little strained. Heero and Wufei were not sitting next to each other—Trowa was in between them, sipping causally on his drink while Quatre, who was at Heero's right, began squirming uncomfortably. Yep, Heero glaring at his napkin so hard that it would probably spontaneously combust at any second would make me nervous too.

The desire to turn around right there and hightail it to Burger King or something was almost too hard to resist, but I sucked it up and sat down at the table.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked cheerfully.

Heero just grunted, but Quatre rushed in and said, "Heero and Wufei have been fighting!"

Wufei glared across the table. "Thanks, Winner. If we wanted the entire world to know, then we wo—"

"Watch it," Trowa hissed dangerously.

"What have you two been fighting about _now_?" I demanded, frustrated. "Is it those damn pictures again?"

Wufei pursed his lips and looked away. Bingo, I was right.

Quatre looked from me to Heero, then to Wufei. "What pictures?"

"Pictures of me and Heero when we were together," I muttered. Where the hell was the waitress! I flagged one down. "Hey, can we order please? I'm starved."

The distraction worked. For a little while, things were slightly better as we ordered. When my drink arrived (with a small slice of chocolate cake for my 'appetizer') I turned to Quatre and continued. "Fei had a hissy fit because, apparently, Heero's been looking at them."

Wufei straightened up in his seat. "I resent you using the term _hissy__ fit_. I had good reason to—"

"No, you didn't!" I dropped my fork onto the table and leaned forward, glaring at Heero and Wufei. "Listen here, you two! Neither of you have anything to worry about! Wufei, _no one wants Heero!_ Well, maybe Relena, but that's beside the point—she's just weird. You two are freaking _made_ for each other! You both can be duller than a day spent watching the grass grow, you're anal-retentive neat freaks who enjoy living on Perfect Street, and you both like to eat that funny looking Asian food, okay? Sheesh, give it a rest already. I'm tired of hearing you bitch about some non-existent threats to your relationship."

Pleased with myself, I sat back in my seat and crammed the rest of my cake into my mouth. "Besides, if anyone sitting at this table should be insecure about their relationship, that would be me, got it?"

"Noin and Sally are here," Quatre added for the others.

Trowa frowned. "Noin? Wasn't she—"

"Head over heels in love with Zechs? Yes. Were they dating a while ago? _Yes_. Is she here to try to win him back now? I don't know."

"I _thought _I saw that Po woman in the office today," Wufei mused. "However, I had hoped that I was just hallucinating."

"No, she's here," I verified. "Now will the two of you switch seats? If you're over being dumb, that is."

Wufei and Heero shared a (cute) look before moving their chairs around so that they were sitting next to each other, and so that Quatre and Towa were side by side. Quatre mouthed a silent thanks to me. I just grinned.

The rest of dinner was pleasant, expect for the nauseating fact that Wufei and Heero were whispering to each other the entire time, and by the end of the night were sharing googly lovey-dovey eyes. Or, as googly and as lovey-dovey as the two could get, anyway. But it was nice to see, because hopefully the two would go home, have a good, long talk and end up doing whatever they did with each other in bed at night and _leave me alone_. I had enough of my own problems.

The two lovebirds made an early exit, and Tro, Q and I stayed behind to have a little dessert and more drinks. I was really kind of relaxed, and had totally put Zechs being with _them_ out of my mind, but then Trowa had to go and ask me where Zechs was. Thanks a lot, buddy.

"Ah . . . actually, he's out to dinner with Sally, Relena and Noin." At the sad looks that they gave me, I laughed a bit forcefully. "Hey, at least they're not _alone _together, and it gave me a chance to hang out with you guys again, you know?"

"Are you _sure _that she's not here to cause problems?" Quatre asked, the crease in his brow making it obvious that he was really worried about this.

"I don't know anything for sure. I mean, just today, she went and told Relena that Zechs and I were in a relationship with no warning whatsoever, so . . ." I sipped on my orange soda. "But we'll see. I want to have a little talk with her some time to get this all clear."

"That would be a good idea," Trowa said. "Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks." And given the way that my life was going, I was probably gonna need it.

**xOxOx**

I returned to the flat kind of late that night to find that Zechs was still not there. A little disappointed, I prepared myself to go to bed alone that night and couldn't help but wonder where the hell he was at one in the morning with a bunch of girls, including his baby sister.

I crawled into bed and stared at the dark ceiling for ten minutes before I rolled over and snatched the phone. I punched in Zechs' cell number and waited.

"Hello?"

It was Noin. I almost hung up. "Ah, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." There was loud music playing in the background and some pretty raucous laughter too. And here I was in bed instead of shaking my butt with my man. Damn.

Noin laughed. "Oh, no! Relena is just showing Zechs how to dance properly. It's quite funny, actually. You should be here."

I grated my teeth as I tried to figure out whether or not she's added that last part on purpose. "Oh. Well . . ."

"Is it an emergency?"

"No! Just tell him I was, ah, just checking in. Tell him I'm at home and in bed, okay?"

"Sure thing Duo. See you la—"

"We need to talk tomorrow."

The woman sighed. "I figured that this was coming. Okay, we'll sit down at lunch and chat."

Without another word, she hung up. I made a face at the phone before slamming it down on the bedside table.

Zechs was out having fun without me. Should that have bothered me? Was it wrong that it _was? _

Oh, come on Duo! He's out there dancing with his sister, not his ex-girlfriend! It'll be fine, just fine . . .

I was almost asleep when there was a slightly frantic knock on the door. Surprised, I rolled off of the bed and onto the floor.

"Ouch! This better be _good_, damn it . . ."

You can imagine my surprise to find Alex standing on the other side of the door. While my mouth fell open, he walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Hey, this is pretty nice," he said appreciatively while looking around. "Can I use your phone?"

I must've blinked fifty times in that one moment. "Excuse me? You waltz into my home at one forty in the morning, tell me that it's pretty nice and then ask to use the phone? What are you on?"

Alex smiled tightly. "I'm sorry, it's just that things haven't been going that well for me. And I really need that phone. My cell battery died, I was in the area, and I really need to call someone."

"Oh, okay." I went into the kitchen and got the cordless one and handed it to him. "I'm . . . sorry to hear that things haven't been going well."

" . . ." After a minute or so, he hung up the phone. "Damn. Walker didn't answer."

"What's going on?"

Alex sat on the couch and sighed. I joined him and watched as he swept one of his hands through his dark hair warily. "I think I know how you felt with Rankin following you around. I can't shake the feeling that someone's doing the same to me now. Just a little while ago, I was heading into the office to get some papers that I'd left and I noticed this car behind me . . . I just couldn't shake it."

A chill raced up and down my back. "What? You think someone's stalking _you_ now?"

"I don't know. Once in a while, I get phone calls where no one answers, and sometimes I have that weird feeling, you know? But I have no proof—no scary notes, no stinky roses . . ." He gave me a sheepish smile. "Maybe I'm just imagining things?"

"Just because you haven't been getting nasty packages doesn't mean that you don't have someone following you." I tucked my feet beneath my butt. "Are you going to ask someone from the force to look into it for you?"

"I'll talk to Walker. I'm sure he'll help me out."

I snorted. "After what happened when he dragged me down for questioning about Quatre? He didn't seem too happy."

Alex smiled. "It's a cop thing. The stress of such a big case must've gotten to him. He's not usually like that. We go way back, since we were in diapers, you know, best buddies and all of that. It's a bit different now that I'm not on the force anymore, but we're still okay."

"Oh. Well, I hope he gets that stick out of his ass."

After a small laugh, he said, "I think it'll be fine. And how have you been?"

"Just fine, expect for the little fact that Zechs' ex-girlfriend showed up a little while ago."

"Ouch. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, its fine. A little _tense_, but its fine."

"Good. If something does happen though, you let me know . . ."

Before I could say anything, the front door opened, and Zechs walked in. He froze the second he saw Alex and I sitting together on the couch—his face grew dark and his body tensed up.

"Zechs!" I exclaimed, jumping up. In retrospect, I can see that this was probably not the best thing to do because it made me look guilty as _hell_, but I wasn't thinking about that at the time. "Um, hi! You're back."

Alex stood up and began dialing again, leaving us alone.

"What is he doing here?" Zechs demanded as I came up to his side. He looked really pissed, so I quickly filled him in on what Alex had told me. Zechs took me by the arms and steered me into the kitchen where he leaned in close to me. "I don't care what the hell he says about some so-called stalker, Duo. He's probably just making it all up so that he can get closer to you. I don't trust him and I don't want you alone with him."

Woah, jealous much? The way I saw it, I had more to worry about from Noin that he did from Alex. "Okay, okay!" I leaned in and gave him a peck on the lips, which seemed to calm him down a bit. "I'll watch my back. How'd that phone call go, Alex?"

"Good, thanks. I got in contact with Walker. He's going to see me home."

"That's good. Sorry this is happening to you too."

He nodded. "Well, my case has been no where near as bad as yours. Thanks for your help. I'll . . . ah, I'll go wait down in the lobby for him." Alex left quickly, probably to avoid having his head bitten off.

Zechs locked the door behind him and stalked into the bedroom. I followed on his heels. "Come on, Daddy, don't tell me you're mad. Nothing happened."

He yanked his shirt over his head, and then flung it to the ground. Um, yeah. Looked mad to me. "No, I'm not _mad_. I'm just worried about you. Whoever set fire to your apartment and attacked you hasn't been caught yet, and I thought that we agreed that Benito was a suspect. And then I come home to find you entertaining that _suspect _in the living room."

_Entertaining?_ Why did he make that sound so slutty? I plopped down on the bed and glared up at him. "Relax, will you? I can take care of myself."

Zechs crawled into bed next to me. "I know, I know. Sorry."

"Better be, damn it." Snuggling up into his chest, I closed my eyes. "How did your dancing lesson with Relena go?"

" . . . who told you about that?"

I stiffened in his arms.

"Duo?"

Noin hadn't told him that I'd called? Should I tell Zechs that I had? Did this mean that she really was trying to mess things up—?

"Oh, never mind. Lu said that you called."

Well. Noin and I needed to _really_ clear some things up, and having that talk was looking better and better.

**xOxOx**

"Did you hear the news, Duo?" a _very _bubbly Quatre asked as he bounced up to my cubicle the next morning.

I looked up from my game of solitaire and stared. He knew darn well that I didn't like to watch the news. "Actually, no I haven't. What's going on?"

Quatre's face exploded into a wide smile. "It was all over the news this morning! Weston has taken back his story about me, and those charges are probably going to be dropped now."

"What!" I jumped up. "This is great!"

We did a little jig and hugged and laughed, only settling down when our co-workers began shooting daggers at us with their eyes.

"I can't help but wonder what made him change his mind," Quatre asked as he perched his rear on the edge of my desk. "Seems kind of strange."

I grinned to myself—damn, I was _good._ Here's to hoping that my talk with Noin would be just as successful. "Oh, I'm sure his conscience told him to fess up. Are you and Trowa gonna celebrate tonight?" I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

Quatre turned a pretty pink. "I don't know. Maybe. Hopefully! It's been a while since we had some quality time together doing something romantic."

"You should go into the city and stay at a swanky hotel and have a good time, okay? Life's too short."

"That's a damn good idea. I better start making reservations . . ." Quatre wandered off and I smiled at his retreating back. This was perfect—maybe now those two would be able to get their relationship back on track with the stress of the charges finally gone.

Heero and Fei—check. Quatre and Trowa—check. Now it was time for me and Zechs.

I found Noin down in the cafeteria as promised, and joined her at the small table. She raised an eyebrow at my empty hands.

"You're not going to eat?" She had a plate piled high with some mighty fine looking spaghetti. Yum.

"Ah, no. I want to get down to business."

"Alright." Noin set down her fork and looked me straight in the eye. "Do you feel threatened by me?"

I shifted in my seat and rested my chin in my right palm. "Do I have a reason to feel threatened?"

"No. I'm not after Zechs."

". . . but you still love him. I can tell."

Noin nodded and began twirling her fork in her food. "Well, yes. I won't deny that. I will always love Zechs, but I can see that he really does care about you and that you make him happy, for whatever reason." After devouring a large bit of spaghetti, she continued. "We broke up over a stupid misunderstanding and it hurts to know that he's moved on. But I'm not the type of girl who's going to try and get in between the two of you."

I sat back in my chair, a feral grin on my face. "Good, because if you were . . ."

"I know that you're not one to fool around with, Duo."

"I'm glad we have that clear."

"However," she leaned forward, "if you break his heart, I'll break your face."

"If I break his heart, I'll _let _you break my face."

"Good."

"Good." I stood up. "That it?"

"Not really." Noin gave me a strange smile that almost made me shiver. "I know that you'd feel much better if I just fell off the face of the earth and never bothered you or Zechs again, but unfortunately for you, maybe, I'm going to be a part of his life for a very long time."

Oooh. That sounded like a _threat_. "What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"It wouldn't be fair to tell you before I tell Zechs. I'm going to stop by Zechs' place tomorrow evening—you'll know then."

Argh. Stupid . . . I turned on my heel and walked away.

You know what? She was right.

At that moment, I _really _wouldn't have minded if she just dropped off the edge of the earth, never to be seen again. Woulda made my life a hell of a lot easier.

**xOxOx**

"I swear, Duo, that I have absolutely _no _idea what she wants," Zechs said as he began loading the dishwasher with the plates that we'd just used for dinner. "I'm just as lost as you are."

I glared at the front door. Noin was supposed to be coming over any minute now, and the food that I'd just eaten was doing summersaults in my stomach. "Yeah, well, for some reason, _that _doesn't really make me feel better."

Zechs chuckled and abandoned the dirty dishes to come over and rub the top of my head. "What could she possibly say that would let her come between us?"

There was a knock at the door.

We were about to find out.

Zechs opened it and in came Relena first, smiling brightly at her brother, and Noin . . . with a baby carriage.

And in that baby carriage was, what else—a _baby_. But not just _any _baby, it was a blond hair, blue eyed baby, the splitting image of Zechs.

My heart seemed to plunge into my stomach as Noin bent down to un-strap the child from the stroller. Now I could see it better—it was a boy, cute as a button I was willing to admit, with soft platinum curls beginning to sprout out of the crown of his head, wide icy eyes and pink plump cheeks.

"Isn't he so _cute_?" Relena cooed, wiggling her fingers at the baby's face.

"You're a father, Zechs!" Noin exclaimed as if she was announcing that he'd just won the lottery, and thrust the boy into Zechs' arms.

I looked up at him. He was stunned. No other word for it. Absolutely stunned.

Zechs took the child into his arms, slowly, carefully, and stared down at him. "I . . . I . . . _god_, Lu, what . . .?"

Noin looked a bit regretful as she stared down at the floor. "I found out that I was pregnant a little while after we split up. I was already away, and I was so mad at you for not understanding about what had happened in that hotel room . . . I just wanted to hurt you so much, the way you hurt me."

"Lu—"

"I wanted to hurt you _so much_. I knew how responsible you are, I knew that this would kill you, so . . . It was wrong of me, I see that now, and I'm truly sorry. It wasn't fair to you or to our son."

Zechs, mindful of the baby—gah, his _son_—in his arms turned to face Relena, then Sally. "Did you know? Did you _know _and not tell me?"

Relena was still smiling, so much so that I was really surprised that her face didn't split in half or something. "I've only known for a few days now. Besides, it wasn't my place to tell you about little Mill. That's his mommy's job, isn't it? Choochie choochie coo!" She returned her attention to the baby.

Little Mill? Zechs had a son? By _Noin_, his ex-girlfriend!

Breathe, Duo, _breathe_!

I filled my lungs with air and then exhaled—nosily, I guess, because Noin glanced over at me for a second. I looked away.

"I was hesitant to tell you," she continued, and took the baby from Zechs when he began to fuss. "I wasn't sure how that would affect your new relationship with Duo. I—well, I hope everything will be okay. I don't want to be a—"

Zechs seemed to snap back to reality. "No! No, everything will be fine. Duo and I will talk later about it, okay?" He looked at me. I just nodded silently. "And Lu, I'd like to talk to you later in private as well."

"Yes, later," Relena interjected, "because _now _you need to do a little bonding, okay?"

Noin and Relena wrangled Zechs into sitting on the living room floor and playing with the baby—his _son_, while I just looked on dumbfounded. Call me selfish if you want, but I couldn't help but wonder what this new development would do to my relationship with Zechs. Here was Noin, showing up out of the blue and presenting to Zechs one of the few things that I would _never _be able to give him—a baby, a son, a family.

Did he want those things? If he did, how much? _Why hadn't we ever discussed it?_

I felt him begin to slip through my fingers. This baby—Zechs' _son_ was fuel for Relena to push Noin and Zechs back together, to unite their family for the sake of their child, blah, blah, blah. And as Noin had said, Zechs tries to be so responsible all the time. Wouldn't he feel the need to take care of his child? Wouldn't he want for his child to come from a home with both parents instead of being shuttled from one house to the other like an animal? Oh man . . .

"Duo," Zechs called gently. "Came over here for a minute."

"Ah, okay." Hesitantly I joined Zechs, Noin, Relena and the baby on the floor, where the child was sprawled out on the plush carpet, making goo-goo gah-gah noises and drooling and doing normal baby things. "He's really cute," I admitted, a little awkwardly. "Like the . . . Gerber baby."

Zechs smiled and picked up the baby. "Hold out your arms."

Oh no, he wanted me to hold it—the baby, I mean. I just stared for a moment at the tiny human being, scared that I would do something wrong. What if he took one look at my face and began crying? What if I dropped him on his head and he grew up to be like _Heero_?

I stuck out my arms and held my breath as the baby was placed in them. Zechs maneuvered my arms until they were in the proper cradling position.

"Wow . . ." I murmured. What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? "He's, ah, kind of heavy, but still so small."

"He eats quite a bit," Noin replied. I glanced up at her—her face was blank as she watched me, and I wondered what she was thinking and what she was really feeling beneath that calm and collected façade that she was putting on.

I stared down at the baby, whose beautiful blue eyes stared back up at me. Aw damn, it was hard not to like something this _adorable_, but this would put a major cramp in my relationship with Zechs . . . This was just too much, that funny smell of baby, a combination of power, lotions, creams and diapers, was beginning to overwhelm me . . .

Or was that the smell of poo?

Relena wrinkled her nose. "Whew! I think someone needs a diaper change!"

Noin reached over and took Mill from my arms. I almost sighed out of relief to have that responsibility gone. "Can someone get the baby bag from the stroller, please?" Noin asked as she began to undo the baby's clothing.

"I'll get it!" No way was I going to pass up the chance to get away for even just a minute, to take a deep breath that didn't smell like baby powder and poop. There was the pink bag in a basket at the back of the stroller, partially unzipped with all sorts of baby junk sticking out. I bent down to pick it up, and one thing inside caught my eye.

A medicine bottle?

Why did Mill need medicine? Was he sick?

After a quick glance up to make sure that the others weren't paying any attention to me, I pulled the bottle out just enough to read the label.

Bi-_what?_

Bipulomine? What was that?

Later, Duo. Right now there was a half naked baby with his butt in the air needing a diaper change. I stuffed the medicine back down into the bag and brought it over to Noin.

She pulled out the diapers and stuff, smiling up at Zechs. "Would daddy like to do his first diaper change?"

It occurred to me then that now there was someone else who could call Zechs daddy, and that bothered me. A lot.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **Well, um, please review and tell me what you think of this newest twist.


	24. Detective Duo

**Author's Note: **Was that twist too much for you? Sorry, but I love lots and lots of drama. My favorite soap is Passions—if you know that show, then you know what kind of drama I like. (grin) I think this should cool you down just a bit. Maybe?

**xOxOx**

A few hours later, Noin was gone, Relena was gone, and the baby was gone, leaving me alone with Zechs. We sat on the couch together in silence for a while, soaking up the fact that Zechs was now a father, which would make _me _a . . . what? A stepfather? Something like that. Now we had a huge responsibility on our hands all wrapped up in a tiny package of new, precious and fragile life.

Were we ready for this? Maybe Zechs was—he was always responsible and so mature. He'd probably be able to handle anything.

But _me_? Clumsy, goofy, a bit air-headed . . . _me!_ I wasn't sure that I was ready for a baby, even if I would only be helping Zechs take care of him "part time" or whatever. I would have to settle down, really start working and focusing on a future . . . maybe I would end up like Heero and Wufei on Perfect Lane, which was just about the _last_ thing that I wanted to happen.

But maybe having a baby would be a good thing? Everyone always said that it would be an enjoyable experience, and the little guy _had _been pretty cute. I imagined taking him on leisurely walks in the park, buying cute little baby things, rocking him to sleep, watching his first steps, hearing his first words . . .

But then again, holding that nasty ass diaper in my hand wasn't pleasant, and although seeing him puke all over Relena's pale yellow expensive-looking jacket had been funny, having him puke all over _my _clothes would certainly not be. And then they would grow up to be little monsters, yelling and screaming and kicking in the grocery store, and then teenagers, drinking and having sex and breaking curfew . . .

Whew. Owie, my head hurt.

"Duo, what are you thinking?" Zechs asked softly, turning to look at me.

"That you're gonna have to convert the study into a baby's room?" I replied with a weak smile.

"This doesn't change anything between us." He paused. "Okay, maybe it does, just a little. I still want to be with you."

"And I still want to be with you."

"But this baby . . . Mill, I want him to be a part of my life as well."

"And I want him to be in your life."

"Which means that he will be in _yours _too. Are you ready for a baby?"

I laughed a bit shrilly. "I don't know! I'm young and hot and . . . But I'm willing to give it a try. Taking care of a child, I mean."

Zechs visibly relaxed. "Thank you."

I got up off of the couch and grabbed my coat. "I need to get out. Do you mind?"

He frowned. ". . . no. Just be careful, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit."

I went down to the parking deck and got into my car. Unable to help myself, I let out a healthy scream, composed myself, and then drove off to Quatre's place. He and Trowa were surprised to see me, and even more surprised when they heard what I had to say.

"NOIN HAD ZECHS' BABY!" Quatre exploded, eyes popping out of his head.

Even Trowa was stunned. "That's . . . damn. Just _damn_."

"Damn is right." We were lounging out on the living room floor. I rested on my stomach and sighed. "I'm so selfish. All I could think about was what this was going to do to _me _and _my _relationship with Zechs. I didn't even care that there was a little boy in need of his father."

Quatre looked sympathetic. "Don't be too hard on yourself. I think it's natural to feel threatened by this. I know I would be if some lady just barged in and told me that she had Trowa's baby." He hesitated before turning to his lover. "Is there anything I should know?"

"No, there isn't." Trowa's reply was quick and neat. "Do you think that you could handle a child?" he asked me seriously.

"I've been thinking about it, and I'm not sure. There are pluses and minuses to everything. Right now, I'm just not sure where raising a baby falls."

"Well, give it a chance, and if you don't like it, then . . ." Quatre drifted off.

"Then what? Break up with Zechs? I don't want to do that! I _shouldn't_ have to do that!" I began to pout. "Life sucks!"

"It's all a part of growing up," Trowa said wisely. I just stuck my tongue out at him.

Quatre laughed. "Oh, I dunno. I think you'd be pretty good at raising a child, Duo. I mean, you're kind of child-like yourself. Zechs could be the parent, and you could be the baby's best friend."

"However," I replied dryly, "there is one notable difference. Mill still wears a diaper. I do _not_."

They chuckled.

"I love Zechs. I really do. But do I love him enough to put up with a huge responsibility like a baby? _That_ is the question."

Quatre patted my back. "I think you'll figure it out. Convince Noin to let you two spend some time taking care of Mill alone and see how it goes. Who knows, you may enjoy being a mommy."

Mommy! I wasn't a—my cell rang. Lucky for Quatre. "Yeah?"

"Duo, would you mind if Mill stays over for the weekend?" Zechs asked quickly. "I'd really like to try and see if I can do this parenting thing."

Oh boy. Here was the perfect opportunity to try _it_ out. "Did Noin agree to it?"

"I haven't asked her yet, but I'm hoping that she'll say yes. I'm sure that she'd rather not have to go to the courts and have a custody battle, so I'm hoping that she'll cooperate."

"If she says yes, then that'll be fine."

"Great. I'll let you know what happens when you get back."

I hung up. "Well, Q, now I'll have that chance. Zechs is trying to get his son for the weekend. We'll see how it goes."

"Duo," Trowa said gravely, "maybe you should pull out that whiteboard again. Don't you think we have a pretty damn good reason to suspect Noin now?"

Quatre nodded. "He's right. Maybe she wants you out of the way so that she can be a family with Zechs. She's looking to be a better suspect than Relena."

So we yanked it out and wrote down Noin. She was intruding way too much to be innocent, she had a solid motive . . . and I just didn't like her. Now she was first on my list—but how could I prove that she was the one?

**xOxOx**

Zechs was able to convince Noin to let Mill stay with us for the weekend—how he _did_, I will never know. He stayed home from work that Friday to finish making the flat "baby-safe" and whatnot, but I chose to go into work, simply to get away from all of that baby stuff. It was making me anxious and making my palms sweat, because later that that afternoon, the baby would be there, and Zechs and I would be roughing it on our own. Baby books as reference guides were all good and well, but nothing could beat the real experience.

I sat at my desk and stared at the fish that swam by on my screensaver, trying to think of what else I needed to do to prepare for the baby's arrival. How about throw myself out of a window? Hmm . . .

Sally passed by my desk, but then backed up and stopped. "Hey there. I heard you're taking care of Mill tonight."

"Uh, yeah. I am."

"If you need any help or if you two get totally lost and don't want to call Noin, you can always turn to me," she said supportively. "I'm more than willing to help you out."

"Thanks." That was really nice to know, actually. Neither of us wanted to have to run to Noin every five seconds for something—then she wouldn't trust us with the baby ever again. "We'll keep your number on speed dial, okay?"

"Okay."

As she began walking away, I remembered that little medicine bottle in the baby's bag. Noin hadn't mentioned anything about needing to give Mill medicine when she gave us the run-down of things that he liked, didn't like, and needed.

"Hey Sally? I have a question."

She came back. "What is it?"

"What in the world is Bi . . . Bi . . . Bipulomine?"

Sally gave me a weird look. "Why are you asking about that?"

"Um . . . some dude asked me if I'd ever taken it, and I'm just trying to figure out if it was an insult so that I can get back at him if I need to."

Laughing, she said, "Okay, well, I can see how someone might think that you've taken that drug before."

Oh, really? I looked down at myself. "Why?"

"Your eyes are very unusual, maybe unnatural." Seeing that I wasn't catching on, she continued. "We can do crazy things with technology today, you know. That medicine is for newborns who have bad some sort of genetic work done, you know, what people like to call test-tube babies, or maybe if a mother or father wants to achieve certain physical characteristics in their child, like brown eyes, which is actually growing in popularity these days. Then the baby would be prescribed it for six months after "birth," just to make sure that everything would be okay."

Oh. Hell.

Genetic work?

Could Mill have been genetically altered to have blond hair and blue eyes like his daddy? _Was Zechs even his real daddy? _Could Noin have had Mill created in a lab in order to pass him off as Zechs' in an attempt win him back?

What the hell had I stumbled onto here?

"Duo? Duo!" Sally called, waving her hand in front of my face. "Are you alright?"

No. I think I'm going to throw up.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay. Don't forget to call if you need any help."

Ring ring! I'm calling! I'm in _serious_ need of some help here!

Damn . . . if Noin was capable of passing of Mill as Zechs' when he really wasn't, the she very well could be capable of trying to off me. And if I could somehow _prove _that Mill wasn't Zechs', then I just might be able to get rid of her for good. Zechs would never take her back after that, no way in hell, and maybe she'd just disappear . . . or fess up. Or something.

There was one way to do it—a paternity test. If I could get my hands onto some DNA from Zechs, Noin and the baby, then . . . then . . .!

Zechs and the baby would be the easy ones. It was Noin that I had to worry about. But I was determined to prove this, because maybe then, this would all be over.

**xOxOx**

"—and that's his favorite blanket." Noin deposited it on top of the mound of other things that she'd brought by the flat for Mill and looked around. "I think that's it."

Zechs smiled as he balanced the child in his arms. "Thanks, Lu. I really appreciate it."

She looked very hesitant. "No problem. Hey, I heard something about mice being here? As a pet? I don't know about—"

"They are locked up tight in our room," I said quickly. Now get out.

"Oh, okay. Um, good luck. Don't be afraid to call."

Once she was finally gone, we stood around like we had no idea what to do (because we _didn't_), until Mill started making noises. Zechs placed him in the little rocking thing that we'd bought and while he began flipping through the phone book for take out, I nudged the rocker with my elbow. As long as it kept swaying, Mill seemed to be fine.

"You know," Zechs mused from the kitchen, "one of us is actually going to have to learn how to cook now."

I laughed. "It ain't gonna be me. Besides, we've got plenty of time to learn. Mill will be drinking from bottles and eating goo from cans for a while." I looked at Zechs—he was all smiles, and had been that way since I arrived him from work that afternoon. I could tell that having this baby around really excited him and made him happy. He seemed to like the idea of being a father, of having a son.

I glanced at my knapsack, which contained printouts about gathering DNA and about paternity tests. If my hunch was right, and he wasn't Mill's poppa, then his heart would be broken. Could I do that to him? Was the truth worth it? Or was I just being selfish again?

Well, gee, I'm sure Zechs didn't want Noin to put me six feet under, and maybe uncovering the truth about the baby's parents would scare her away, or get her to confess the other things that she'd done. Right. So I was gonna go ahead with my plan.

Zechs ordered the food and went to take an early shower. I leapt into action, taking out the direction from the bag, along with a swab and a plastic container that I'd . . . ah, _lifted _from the infirmary's storage closet.

"Okay . . . okay, open up little baby . . ." I bent down and tried to coax Mills mouth open. I made a goofy face and he giggled (awww)—then I swooped in with the swab and gently went against the side of his cheek. I took a few more just in case, placed them securely in their containers and labeled the sample "baby."

One down, two to go.

**xOxOx**

It was only as I watched Zechs play with the baby later on that night that I began to feel a bit like a monster for taking DNA from a helpless baby so that I could prove that his mother was a liar and a sneak. But you know that saying about desperate times, right? I had to do what I had to do . . . _right? _

Right. That's what I thought.

Bedtime finally rolled around, _thankfully_. Taking care of a baby was hard work. Sometimes cute, funny and really interesting, but totally exhausting! I climbed into bed and made sure that the baby monitor was on and up loud . . . oh, perfect. Zechs was brushing his hair out. Just what I needed.

He got into bed a few minutes later. We settled down for the night.

I waited until I was sure that he was asleep—his chest was going up and down in a steady fashion. Then I crawled out of bed and crept over to the dresser. There was his hair brush, sitting in the moonlight . . . There was no way that I was going to be able to sit there and pick out a hair and make sure that it was one that was what I needed, so I snatched the entire thing up and slipped it quietly into a plastic bag. I dropped it into my bag and placed it securely in the back of the closet.

As I slinked back to the bed, Mill's cries exploded in the silence, nearly causing my heart to leapt out of my chest. Zechs stirred. "I got it," I whispered and went back to check on the baby.

The room we'd set up for him was very nice by any baby's standards. You know, clouds and the sun and some animals and junk. Top of the line furniture, too, real nice stuff. Zechs had gone all out for Mill, which kind of made me hope that I was wrong about this entire thing. Kind of.

I turned on the light and went to see what was wrong.

Ohhh, dirty diaper.

Shit . . . no pun intended. If there was one thing I hater about this baby thing, it was the crap. And the puke.

I'd seen Zechs and Noin change the diaper a few times, and I'd seen it on TV, so it couldn't be that hard, right? So what if it took me, like, twenty minutes? I did it, yay for me!

I washed my hands and went back to sleep.

Two down, one to go.

**xOxOx**

"Excuse me, you need me to do what!"

"Alex, c'mon now! Be a pal," I hissed over the noise of the fan in the bathroom early the next morning. I was on my cell in the bathroom, pretending to take a crap, and trying to persuade the former cop to get one of his lab pals to do a paternity test for me, even though I didn't _exactly_ have the permission of the people who's DNA I would be submitting for testing. "I might finally find out who the hell has been after me all this time!"

"How is finding out if Zechs is the father or not going to help you solve this stalker thing?" he demanded.

"I think Noin is the one! Zechs isn't going to want to be with a woman who tried to pass someone else's genetically altered baby as his own, and then she'll realize that she has no reason to want me dead because Zechs wouldn't want her even if I _was_ out of the picture, and then she'll go away and leave me alone!" I took a deep breath. "Okay? Get it now?"

"Duo . . ."

"Please, please, please, please, please?"

"Okay! Alright! I'll find someone to do it under the table. Damn, the stuff I do for you . . ."

"Thank you so much. I'll have the samples as soon as possible, I've only got Noin's left."

"Don't get caught," he warned me.

"I won't! Again, thanks a bunch." I hung up, pumped my fists and added a grunting noise, just in case anyone was listening.

When I came out of the bathroom, I found Zechs waiting for me. At first I was frightened out of my freaking mind, he must've overheard and now he was pissed that I was testing his "son"—until I realized that he was holding Mill and laughing.

"What? What happened?"

Zechs held the cooing baby up, "You put on his diaper wrong last night."

Oh.

Indeed I had. It was on inside out _and _backwards.

"I can't figure out how you did that. I even took a picture," Zechs said. "It'll be great to show him when he grows up—_Look at what Daddy Duo did to you one night, Mill._ And we can show it to all of his girl or boyfriends that he brings over and embarrass him. Isn't that right, Mill?" He walked off to fix my mistake, presumably.

I sighed. Yeah, he was gonna be devastated . . .

I'm sorry, Zechs. I am so sorry.

**xOxOx**

Quatre's mouth was nearly at the floor. "I cannot . . . oh my . . . that's just so . . ."

"What?" I demanded defensively. "Are you going to try to talk me out of it?"

Quatre got up from the couch and walked over to me. "You better be glad that Mill is sleeping just a few rooms over, or else I'd tell you what I _really _think."

I downed my can of Mountain Dew and glared at him. "What would _you _do if _you _found out what I did? Why in the world would Mill have had some lab work on him when he was just a bunch of cells or something unless Noin has something to hide?"

"I don't know! Couldn't you just ask?"

"And let her know that I know? NO!"

I began to wash some carrots out in the sink for my pet mice. Zechs had been called back to the office for an emergency, and Quatre decided that he would come over and help me out with the baby. Maybe telling him about my plan hadn't been such a good idea, though.

"You are crazy."

"Yeah, well, you won't be saying that when I come back with those results in my hand, okay?"

Quatre frowned. "Are you _sure _it was that Bi-whatever stuff that you saw in the bag, and not something else?"

"I'm _positive_!"

"Okay, okay. But if Zechs finds out what you did, he'll be _livid._ No doubt about it."

"I know. That's why he _won't _find out. Not until I'm one-hundred percent sure. But I'm in a bit of a pickle. How the hell do I get my hands on some of Noin's DNA? Ask her to bleed over a cup or spit in a dish?"

"Oh, no! You are _not _roping me into this crazy scheme of yours!"

"You're my best friend! Come on, I just need some advice!"

"No! Leave me alone!"

"C'mon, Q, please? Please? Please, please, please!"

He threw up his hands. "Damn it, you are so annoying when you want something."

I smiled. "You know it."

"I really have no idea, Duo. You're gonna have to . . ." He eyed the carrots, and then looked up at me. "Hmm. You know what? That just might work. But you'll owe me big time, I swear. Next time I need something, you better do it, no questions asked."

My eyes grew big and round. "Okay, okay! Tell me about it."

**xOxOx**

"Now do _what_?"

A few days later, I cackled to myself as I watched Noin squirm. The mice had "escaped" from their cage (with a little help from me, of course), and now she had one of them cornered—Shinigami, to be exact, and he was a little vicious around strangers.

"Just grab him," I instructed calmly. "He's really a nice mouse."

She sighed and bent down, snatching up Shinigami in her hand. A few seconds later, she screamed and dropped him. Her hand was leaking blood like the Niagara falls—apparently, Shinigami hadn't taken being yanked up from the ground very well and had ripped her hand to shreds.

I was conveniently there with a tissue. "Oh damn, I'm so sorry! I don't know what got into him! He's usually so—here, let me help you with that, okay? Okay?" I squeezed her hand to make sure that plenty was coming out . . . there, that should be enough. I dropped the tissue into a wastebasket and rushed her into the bathroom for first aid.

She left with Mill half an hour later, and I fished the bloody tissues out of the trash. Hopefully it would be enough.

**xOxOx**

The next day, I met Alex at the mall, where I passed him my goody bag full of evidence. In three days, he said, I should have my results. We chatted for a bit before parting ways.

On the way back to the flat, it was pretty obvious that I was being followed. Despite a bunch of random twists and turns, I couldn't shake the white van with tinted windows, so I pulled into a crowded gas station and parked.

The van slowed down and cruised by in what was supposed to be an intimidating way, I guess. And then it was gone.

Had that been Noin? Did she know?

Three days, Duo. In three days, the truth would come out.

**xOxOx**

**Author's Note: **I had a good time writing this. A slightly selfish Duo who means well but is a bit misguided . . . it was very interesting to try and capture that. Please review.


	25. Finding Truth: Duo

It wasn't until later that night that the _true_ gravity of the situation hit me smack-dab in the middle of the face like a ton of bricks. For the better part of a year, my life had been a living hell, crazy stalkers and whatnot, and now I was looking forward to the day that I could go to the mall and not be afraid that some lunatic was going to jump out of the crowd and—

Ohhh, my stomach!

The anxiety was getting to me so much that I was ready to barf all over Zech's nice floors. And it certainly didn't help that a certain _baby_ was over for the night as well, because now there was no escaping it. I would be reminded of the paternity test with every whiff of baby powder that I smelled, and with every little goo-gah noise that I heard.

"Duo, are you alright?" Zechs asked as he came over to stare down at me as I lounged on the couch with my eyes squeezed close. The googly-eyed child was in his arms, and was also staring at me with those eyes that were so much like Zechs! I swallowed thickly and tried to smile.

"Gah. Yeah, I'm fine. Pro'lly just ate somethin' bad earlier today . . ." I turned over on my side—there, that was better.

"Would you like some tea? Or some medicine? I think I have some around here . . ." He wandered off and returned a short while later. "I couldn't find any. I can go out and buy some—"

And leave me here alone with the baby! I didn't think so! I sat up quickly. "No! No, that's fine. I'm just going to chill in bed, okay?" I shuffled away quickly, into the bedroom where the smell of baby wasn't as strong.

I was under the covers for only a few minutes when Zechs came into the room and quietly sat down next to me.

"Where's Mill?" I grumbled, rubbing my stomach.

"Taking a nap." The bed shifted as Zechs settled down next to me. "Is everything alright, Duo?"

"Absolutely peachy. Why do you ask?"

"Do you have a problem with Mill?"

I stiffened. What the hell was I supposed to say? That I did, that I suspected that Mill wasn't even _his_? "No," I replied almost defensively.

"Ever since you returned this afternoon, you haven't fed him, you haven't played with him, hell, you've barely even looked at him."

I didn't say anything.

"Are you worried—"

"I'm fine, I swear. Just . . . you two should spend some time together, ya know? Do father-son mumbo jumbo. I don't want to intrude."

That seemed the please him. He leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Don't worry about that. We will be a family, so we should all feel comfortable together."

"Yeah."

A family.

_Right._

**xOxOx**

"Duo, if you glare at her any harder, she'll spontaneously combust," Quatre grumbled over his grilled chicken sandwich the next day. The cafeteria in the Preventers building was just beginning to buzz as more and more people filed in for the noon lunch rush, and one of those people just _happened_ to be Noin.

"And who says that'll be a _bad _thing?" I replied casually.

There she was, giggling and chatting with Sally and Relena as they made their way through the food line, a big smile on her face like she didn't have a care in the world.

Ha. You just wait, you lying, scheming . . . in three days you won't have anything to smile or laugh about when I prove that you are nothing but a manipulating—

"Alright, where the hell is my pudding?" I demanded, looking down at my tray.

Oh. Now, when had Tro, Wufei and Heero joined me and Q at the table?

Smirking, Trowa placed the missing pudding back on my tray. "I thought that would get your attention."

I sent him a dirty look as I jabbed my spork into the brown gooey mass. "What?"

"Someone's in a bad mood," Wufei observed lightly.

Quatre leaned forward conspiratorially, and everyone else did too. "Duo is giving Mill a paternity test!" He hissed, eyes wide.

"QUATRE!" What the hell! I whipped my head around frantically—Noin was still in the line, far, far away, and Zechs was no where to be seen. Good. If anyone had heard . . .

Wufei's face wrinkled up into a look of extreme distaste. Heh, as if I had expected anything else from him. "I cannot believe that you would stoop to such a level—"

"Aw, put a sock in it, will ya?" I grumbled. "If Relena popped up one day and declared that she was pregnant by Heero, what would you do?"

He blinked slowly. "Heero isn't bisexual, so I don't see how that is relevant."

I snorted—like I hadn't seen his upper lip twitching. "You wouldn't accept it without some sort of proof. I have a damn good reason to think what I think, so nya."

"Merquise will murder you if he finds out," Trowa said lightly, like it was no big deal.

"He _won't_. When I get those results, I'm gonna show them to Noin, and she'll high tail it out of here faster than I can blink, taking the baby with her."

"And Merquise will go after her, still thinking that the baby is his" Trowa muttered. "That, or you'll have to tell him that it isn't, and then he'll be pissed of at _you_—"

"Okay, okay, okay!" I cried, getting to my feet with my pudding in one hand. "I don't care what you all think! This is the solution to everything, I'm telling you." I snatched up my spork and stampede away, blood boiling.

How could my friends not support me when I was sooo obviously right? It was ridiculous! They'd see when those results came back in. Oh, yes, they'd see! And so would Noin, that—

"Duo!"

I looked paused and looked over my shoulder. There was Zechs, smiling handsomely at me, with a slightly confused look on his face. "Huh?"

"You walked right past me." He came closer, mindful of the other people in the hallway. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah." I shoved a bunch of pudding into my mouth while I tried to think of something to say. "I'm just . . . uh, um, yeah."

He was on the verge of laughing, but then his face turned dark and his eyes narrowed at something just behind me. I casually turned around to see Alex coming towards us, face serious and his walk purposeful. My heart began slamming in my chest and my pudding cup almost hit the ground. Had the results come in already? Why was he looking like that? Did that mean bad news? Good news?

"What does he want?" Zechs demanded under his breath. He took a step forward, in between me and Alex as the other man grew closer.

"I need to talk to you in private," the ex-cop said sternly, ignoring Zechs' presence completely, which of course did _not _please my boyfriend.

Uh oh. If Alex showed up at my job and was willing to face Zechs, that probably meant that something was going down.

Zechs began to open his mouth, but I just shoved the pudding-covered spork into his mouth and the cup into his hand. "I'll only take a second, okay? Wait for me." I did my best to ignore the furious glare that Zechs was sending me, but this was so important . . .

Once Alex and I were a safe distance away, I hissed, "What happened? Do you have the results already? What—"

"No, I don't know anything yet," he said hastily. "But you might want to watch your back very carefully from now on."

Shivers raced down my back. "What the _hell _is that supposed to mean? Are you—"

"My lab buddy called me early this morning. It seems that after I passed the . . . materials off to him last night, he stopped at a gas station, and when he came out, he found someone in his car, going through the envelope."

I began choking on my own spit. "What? Someone tampered with the _stuff_!" I think I began hyperventilating at that point. There HAD been a van following me that day. Had it gone back, tailed Alex and been there when he exchanged the package with the lab technician? Had it been Noin? Did she know about the test? Holy sh—

"Are you listening to me?"

I blinked rapidly, snapping out of my daze. "What?"

"It doesn't look like anything is missing or different . . . your handwriting on the labels matches, none of the seals were broken, and everything was there," Alex said.

"But someone knows . . .' I whispered.

"Yes, _someone_ knows."

"Shit. Look, could your buddy identify the person?"

"Unfortunately, no. It was dark." Alex sighed and rubbed at his face with his hands. "_Be careful_, do you understand me? I don't know what the hell this could mean, but just to be safe, you should take some extra precautions at least until this whole mess between you, Merquise and Lucrezia Noin is settled."

"Right. Okay. Thanks for the heads up."

He must've seen that I was ready to crap all over myself, because he smiled lightly and said in a tone that didn't fit the seriousness of our conversation, "You think you can keep your ass out of trouble for three days, Maxwell?"

I grinned back. "I'll do my best, kay?"

He shrugged. "That's all I can ask for, I suppose. Well, I'd better let you go. Merquise looks ready to strangle someone, probably me."

"Thanks Alex. You stay safe too, okay?"

"Will do." He began weaving in and out of the large groups of personnel moving towards the cafeteria. I watched him until he was gone, and barely had time to digest the information before I felt Zech's presence at my back. I turned around—I didn't even need to look up at his face to know that he was _not _happy.

"What was that all about?"

"Just . . . its nothing."

Zechs wasn't a lot of things, dumb being one of them. I guess I needed to work on my fibbing. "You're up to something, aren't you? What's going on?"

Ignoring the other people in the hallway, I quickly kissed the corner of his mouth. He was taken by surprise and unable to talk—I took my pudding and spork from his hands and smiled. "You had some chocolate on your mouth. Right. There. I took care of it for you." I took my chance and shuffled away, contemplating the possible meaning of all of this. I dashed into an empty elevator—

Ah, nope. Not as empty as I thought.

There was Noin standing in the corner, leaning against the back wall of the elevator with her arms crossed, staring blankly ahead as if there was something _really _important on her mind. I narrowed my eyes at her. Could I possibly melt into the side wall of the elevator and maybe she wouldn't see me?

"What?" she asked, turned to look at me.

"What what?"

"You're staring."

I grinned stupidly. "Was I? Sorry." Holy crap, get me outta here! "You look . . . ah, preoccupied."

She eyed me carefully, slowly. Alright, damn it what was taking this elevator so long! I wanted _off!_ "So do you."

"Oh."

"Are you too preoccupied to take Mill tonight for me?"

Hmm. She wanted me to take Mill? What was she up to?

"Zechs would love to see him again," I replied pleasantly, twisting the end of my braid around my finger. It was a nervous habit, and Noin's eyes fell down to my busy hand, eying it curiously. "So, uh, bring him by any time."

There was a soft ding and the elevator door slid open. Noin stepped out, gave me a parting glance and went off to do . . . whatever it was that she did around the office besides annoy me. My eyes rolled up to the ceiling as I willed my heart to slow the _fuck_ down before I died a very premature death.

_"You think you can keep your ass out of trouble for three days, Maxwell?"_

Heh. Knowing my luck, probably not.

**xOxOx**

The next day came and my anxiety increased. Work was hell—I was constantly looking over my shoulder, snapping at my friends and I didn't even eat anything for lunch! I know, how horrible, right? But I managed to escape the day without an encounter from Noin, and Mill wouldn't be staying the night, so it would just be me and Zechs, and I had a lot of stress to work off, if you know what I mean.

Zechs took me out to dinner that night, some upscale fancy smancy place where we sat in a booth as close as possible and stared at each other over the candlelight while holding hands under the table.

Yeah, right. I wish.

Things were strangely tense that night. He seemed a little preoccupied with something, and a little nervous. This wasn't a good start to what I'd hoped would be a night of tossing and tumbling around in the bed. I put up with it for a little while, but once the main course arrived and Zechs almost drank out of the vinegar bottle, I decided to speak up.

After rescuing him from a vinegar nightmare, I leaned in close to look into his eyes. Did he know about the DNA test? Is that what was going on? Calm down, Duo, don't jump to conclusions. "What's wrong?"

Zechs pushed away his plate with a sigh. "You've been really great about Mill and Lu."

_Would you be saying that if you knew what I've done? _"Yeah, well, I love you and all that jazz. You know."

"I do know. But I think its time we talk about our future."

Er, okay. I blinked rapidly several times. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"No!" was his adamant reply. He gripped my hand almost desperately and a warm fuzzy feeling rushed through my body. It was nice knowing that you were loved. "That's not what this is about."

"Oh, good," I said lightheartedly. "Cuz if that's what you were tying to do, I would've forced that vinegar down your throat."

He chuckled, but I think he saw the glint in my eye that indicated that I was totally serious. "I meant our future with the baby, and how all of this is going to be. I know it's awkward right now with Noin, but I'm hoping that we can work it out. I want to be a father. I'm ready to be a father."

My mouth moved but no words came out.

"But I want to know if you are. It wouldn't be fair to you to keep you in this relationship when you're still young and getting a feel for life and—"

I didn't like where this conversation was going. Sounded like a breakup speech to me. "You're making it sound like you're ten years older than me or something. C'mon, Zechs, we've both had hard lives and we're both screwed up. I know I act like an idiot sometimes but I'm not a child. I can handle this. I really can."

"I'm just concerned that you'll put up with not being completely happy just to be with me."

I stared at him. "That's what people in love do, Zechs. They don't just get up and leave at every bump in the road. And I'm not 'putting up with anything,' okay? The little squirt is . . . kinda cute. He's growing on me. Just give it some time, please."

He was still frowning at me, those sharp blue eyes boring into mine. "If you feel like you need a break, I understand."

My heart seized up and I momentarily stopped breathing. "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to _make _me break up with you? What, do you want to get back with Noin? You want to make a perfect little family with her, huh? Is that what it is? Do you—"

Zechs stopped me in mid-tirade by placing firm hands on my shoulders. "Listen to me. I love you. I don't want Noin. Nothing could make me want Noin again, not even a son with her, do you understand?"

Actually no, I didn't. I really didn't. "Why don't you believe me when I say that I'm okay with this?"

"You don't think I notice how you act around Mill?"

Ouch. He had me there. My shoulders slumped. "Zechs, I—"

"It's not your fault. Maybe you just aren't ready to handle this."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked quietly. I'd do anything for him. Anything at all.

"I just want you to think. I want you to be sure that this is what you want. I'm not giving up my son, Duo. I don't want to have to give you up either, but I want you to be happy . . ."

Then it hit me how ridiculous this conversation was. Right then I wanted to yell, scream, shout that Mill _was not his son! _ All of this nonsense wouldn't mean a damn thing once the truth came out, so what the hell was I worrying about? I smiled weakly at him. "I'll think about it, okay? I promise."

This seemed to please him. "Good. Thank you."

The rest of dinner was pretty silent. And do I even need to say that the only thing I was doing later that night was sleeping? Yeah, life sucks.

**xOxOx**

I couldn't bring myself to go to work on Day Three, so I stayed home, lying on my ass watching television and eating junk food.

Which probably wasn't a good idea because when it came time for me to pick up the results, I felt ready to hurl my cookies and ice cream all over Zechs' expensive leather sofa. I made myself get up from the couch and get dressed when the time neared, and I was just about to head out of the door when I suddenly turned back and decided to leave Zechs a note by the telephone—

_3:30 Went to the mall to pick something up.__ Be back _**_soon_**_! Don't have a party without me._

_Love you pieces, Duo_

**xOxOx**

Fifteen minutes later I sat nervously in the crowded food court, sipping on a milk shake and trying to look cool and collected. The more and more I waited, the more paranoid I got, until it came to the point where I was looking over my shoulder every five seconds, waiting for someone (Noin) to jump out at me.

And then I saw a frazzled looking young man headed my way with a shopping bag in his hand. It was him, the lab researcher technician dude. I sat up straight in my seat and gave him a friendly smile as he sat across from me. He sat the bag on the table and pushed it at me.

"Aw, you got me something from Macy's? You shouldn't have," I replied nervously as I peeked into the bag—the only thing there was a large manila envelope. Without removing it from the bag, I opened the folder and flipped past the technical mumbo jumbo that I had no hopes of understanding and straight to the page that had the results in plain old English and—

Well damn. I had been right.

Zechs was NOT Mill's father, no way in hell.

That should've made me the happiest man on earth, but for some reason it didn't. For some reason my heart was aching terribly, and I rubbed at my chest to make it go away. "T-thanks man," I said to the lab guy with a shaky smile. "I appreciate it. Be careful, alright?"

The young man nodded and rushed away, disappearing into the crowd.

I stared back down at the results one more time and was flooded with mixed emotions. First it was relief that I had been right, that the threat of Noin would finally be gone from our lives; then it was sadness for Zechs, who had in such a short time come so close to the child, so eager to be a father. And lastly I felt a red hot anger at the bitch who had caused that pain, who had tricked _my _man . . . I snapped the folder shut and grabbed the bag and stomped off to my car.

Oh, it was on now. We were going to have this out, Noin was going _down _in a ball of flames, that sneaky little skank. I was going to kick her ass all the way to Mars and back again, she would never have anything to do with Zechs _or _Mill for that matter. She was going to _pay_ and I mean big time—

With all of my internal ranting I'd barely even realized that I'd made it outside and to the parking lot. It was a little deserted—it wasn't the weekend after all, and it was in the middle of the day, so hastily I grabbed my keys and headed for my car. When I got there I was surprised to see Detective Walker standing there waiting for me. Hmm, a police escort at this time wouldn't be a bad idea. It certainly wouldn't be a bad idea to have a cop around when I confronted Noin . . .

"Hey there Walker, what's up?" I asked as I began to lock the car door.

"Just came to check up on you," he said, coming a little closer.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I got a call from Merquise. Said that he was a little worried about you, he didn't know where you were."

"Damn, I—"

Wait a minute, hadn't I left Zechs a note? Surely he would've found it when he came home and checked the answering machine like he always does.

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly, taking my key out of the lock and turning to face him.

"That's what he said."

"Oh."

Now little warning bells were going off in my head. I didn't like the feel of this at all. I'd left a _note_, damn it, and if he really was that concerned then why hadn't he called my cell phone? Did Walker really think that I was going to fall for this lame ass story? What the hell was he up to?

"I'll call him on my cell phone. But you know what, I forgot to get something, I have to run back into the mall—" I moved to step around him, and froze in surprise when I felt his cold, gloved hand gripping my arm tightly. I stared up at him incredulously—what was he doing?

His face was calm, as if what he was doing was okay. When I tried to yank my arm away he retaliated by gripping my other arm, pulling me closer and shoving me back against the car.

"What's in the bag?" he asked. The nosy bastard didn't even wait for me to reply as he dug into it and pulled out the folder. With one hand he kept me pinned, with the other he flipped through the pages.

My heart was slamming against my rib cage wildly. What was going on? Why was Walker asking like this? _Why did he care so much about what was inside of that folder?_

Apparently he had reached the last page, because he chuckled and said, "Perfect, absolutely perfect. You know, maybe you're not as dumb as I thought you were."

"Thank you," I replied flippantly. "And maybe you really are the pompous jackass I thought _you_ were."

Finally his calm façade snapped. He snatched the car keys from my hand and unlocked the door. "Get in and go all the way to the passenger side."

Um, excuse me? "No." Now I began struggling against him, but he was pretty damn strong. I opened my mouth to scream for help, only to have the man's mouth rammed down on mine, cutting off my yell before it could be heard. Eww, we were _kissing_! The horror!

"Well, now, what do we have here?" said a familiar voice icily. "I'm sure Zechs will be pleased to hear about this."

Oh my lord. Could this possibly get any worse than it already was?

Walker finally moved his face away from mine, and now Noin was in plain view, standing not too far away with her arms crossed over her chest. Oh yeah, just the person I needed to see. Of all of the people to stumble by us, why HER? Ironic, huh?

"Noin, please, it's not what you think! This guy is trying to kidnap me, I _swear_—"

Something began to poke sharply at my stomach as Walker said, "Shut up now."

Eep! Shutting up. Maybe if I kept quiet he'd take that _gun_ away from my _belly_?

Noin's eyes flickered down—she must've seen it, because the look on her face turned from pissed off to concerned as she stepped forward, reaching for what must've been a weapon of her own.

"Ah, I don't think you want to do that." Walker tossed the folder at Noin with a nasty little smirk, and then I knew that I was pretty much screwed.

Yep. No longer concerned for my safety, Noin went pale as she looked at the folder's contents. After taking in a deep breath, she controlled herself, going stoic and cold. Our eyes met, mine pleading and hers totally blank. I couldn't tell what she would do next. Would it be too much to hope that she would help me out, even though she was scheming to get Zechs back?

"So you see," Walker said calmly, "if you stop me now, he'll go running back to Merquise and tell him your dirty little secret about how you faked having his child. Do you really think the man would want you then? Do you really think that he wouldn't do everything in his power to take that child away from you? You'd never have him then."

"Noin please—" I began desperately.

"Or you can walk away from this and forget you ever saw anything. Maxwell won't be coming back, and eventually Merquise will get over it and you can be the family you always wanted to be with him." Walker's voice was dark, hypnotic and seductive, and as I frantically glanced over at Noin I could see that she was starting to buy into his spiel.

"Make your choice. What's it going to be?"

Noin stared down at the damning evidence in her hands. "Can I keep this?"

Walker snickered. "Do you think I'm that dumb? Once you destroy those papers, what will stop you from telling people that I was the last one to see Duo Maxwell alive? I'll take those, thank you very much. Now, do we have a deal?"

Noin stepped forward cautiously and placed the folder on the roof of the car. Her tone was brisk and ice cold as she said, "Yes, we have a deal."

And without another glance in my direction, she turned on her heels and walked away.

_Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, _was my mantra as I stared dumbfounded at her retreating back. Why the hell had I hoped that she would save me? Had I really grown _that _naive since the end of the war? Che. Yeah right.

There wasn't much time for me to lament about my really bad luck, because Walker was now trying to shove me into the back of the car. Early on in the scuffle I lost my footing and tumbled inside. He shoved me not to gently over to the passenger side and closed the door behind him. I reached for the door handle in vain—before I knew it, the bastard brought the handle of the gun down on my head three times, and I was out like a light.

**xOxOx**

How much time had passed was the furthest thing from my mind when I opened my eyes again, because all I could do was wonder why in the hell I was being dragged across piles of dirt and over mounds of old crunch leaves—and this is the worst part—by my _hair_! I was going to make him pay for that one.

I tried to free myself, but that blow to the head was still kicking my ass. I was so weak and disoriented that I could hardly see straight. I had to stall until I got myself together, but the painful tugging on my scalp didn't really help. "So—_ow_ Damn stick!—so, Walker, mind telling me _what the fuck is going on?_" I demanded, trying to scurry onto my hands and knees and follow closely behind him to reduce some of the tension on my scalp. Somewhere in the back of my head I was wondering how dumb we must've looked, but it really was not the time for jokes.

"You should know," was all he said.

I sighed exasperatedly, trying to keep up with his pace. What was I, a mind reader? I hadn't done anything to this guy! I was pretty darn sure about that one! "What is _with_ you crazy people? You always think that I should know—whatever, dude. You're just wacko."

"Wacko?" he sneered, stopping and turning to face me. His grip was still tight on my braid, but at least we weren't moving, and I could try and get under control. "Wacko? I spent years and years and _years_ with Alex! I was _there_ for him through middle school, through high school, college, the academy! Since we were young we planned on getting into law enforcement together.

"And then _you_—_you_, what are you? Just a pretty piece of ass, big hair, big eyes, so what?" The contempt he held for me was quite plain on his face. Now why hadn't I noticed this before? "And then _you _waltz in, batting your eyelashes and shaking your butt and all of a sudden he's a different person. Suddenly police work isn't good enough for him, suddenly _I'm_ not good enough for him! We rarely ever get to see each other anymore, and you know why? It's because of _you_. He's trying to make himself better for _you_. He's trying to compete with Merquise's status and wealth any way he can, just to impress _you_. You took him away from me! And if you're gone, he'll quit his job, come back to the force and be my partner again."

My mouth was hanging open by now as I sat there on my butt starting up at him. And then I started giggling, because I couldn't help it. "Oh my god that is _so_ lame. You have got to be the wackest villain I have ever seen. Disney villains are better than you! Even _Rankin_ was better than you! That's why you want to kill me, because you miss your best bud? You're out of your mind, he isn't doing anything to impress me—"

"Yes, he _is_." One rough tug on my hair and we were moving again.

This was so dumb. He was mad at me because Alex didn't hang around him anymore? Did he ever stop and think that _maybe _it's because he's a lame-wad crazy ass fucker?

"So if I'm dead, you think he'll, er, come back to you?" I asked, looking around. Aw, damn, there were nothing but trees, trees and more trees from what I could see. Oh, and the occasional really big rock, but mostly just damn trees. We were in the woods—miles away from civilization? Perfect, just perfect . . .

"Of course. Eventually he'll forget all about you and we can be like we were. Inseparable."

_You are so pathetic. _"Yeah, right. Where are you taking me?"

"Does it matter? You're going to die anyway. Get on your feet. Now that you're awake dragging you around by this ridiculous thing isn't fun anymore."

Fun? The dumb sadistic bastard. I stood up and eyed the gun in his hand warily. I held my hands up and continued walking. We continued on in silence for five minutes before I realized something.

"You're going to try and pin this on Noin, aren't you?"

" . . . maybe you aren't—"

"As dumb as you look, right, right, we already established that back at the mall. Her fingerprints are all over that DNA test—but you were wearing gloves. Whatcha gonna do, plant the folder in her house when you investigate my death?"

"Of course. It'll be easy for people to assume that she was the one who killed you. She saw those results and felt threatened. Anyone would come to that conclusion. No one would suspect me, and no one would believe her if she ratted me out. After all, she was the one lying about something as serious as a baby, right?"

Dumb bitch. Serves her right! Hahahahaha . . . but wait, that would only work if I were dead . . . never mind. It wasn't such a good idea at all.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded again.

"Don't you hear it?"

Indeed I did. Rushing water . . . oh boy. This wasn't good.

"I will shoot you and you will fall down into the water. It could be weeks or months before we find your body, _if _we ever do. It will give me plenty of time to make sure that Noin is properly implicated for the crime."

Oh jeeze. This was not the way I wanted to go.

Five minutes later we reached our destination—a cliff overlooking a pretty angry river. I turned to face Walker, frantically calculating whether or not I would survive if I jumped . . . if he shot me and pushed me into the river, it would be all over. But if I went for it . . . it didn't look that high . . . was the water deep enough?

I didn't have any more time to speculate. Walker was raising the gun.

_If there ever was a time that I wished I was Heero, it would be now. _

The gun went off.

I jumped.


	26. Finding Truth: Zechs

This is another Zechs interlude. I decided to make it a chapter because I felt it was imporant to the story line. Enjoy.

* * *

There wasn't a waking moment when I didn't worry about Duo, but I wasn't sure which one I feared the most—what someone else might do to him, and what he might get up to when he was left to his own devices. 

The seemingly harmless note lying next to the telephone caused me to hesitate for a brief moment. I picked it up and looked at it closely. Duo's childish chicken scrawl announced his departure for the mall and promised that he would be returning _soon_. The note looked and sounded like him . . .

But so much for returning _soon_, because now it was 5:36, and the apartment was way too quiet for him to be here. Unless he was sleeping?

I did a quick check of the bedroom and the other rooms, but there was no sign of him. His keys, cell phone and wallet were no where to be found either.

Duo knew how much I worried. If he said soon, then he would be back soon. Two hours wasn't soon enough.

I grabbed the phone and dialed Duo's cell. No answer. I tried three more times and still nothing. This time I tried Quatre's cell phone number and the young man answered right away. "Is Duo with you?" I asked abruptly.

He hesitated. "No. Why?"

"He left me a note at 3:30 saying that he was going to the mall and that he'd be back soon. And the word soon has been underlined six times and is in very bold print. But he's not here."

" . . . he shouldn't have been there more than five minutes . . ." Winner muttered to himself.

I didn't like the sound of his voice, or the fact that he obviously knew what was going on while I was still in the dark. "So you didn't go with him?"

"No. Did you call his cell phone?" was his sharp reply.

My eyes narrowed. "He didn't answer. What's going on?"

In a rare display of frustration, Quatre swore loudly. "Call Alex right now and tell him to meet us at the mall. He'll explain everything to you."

"What—" But the line was already dead.

Now it was my turn to curse out loud. What had Duo gotten himself into now? And what did _Alex _have to do with it?

I raced downstairs to my car and called the former detective. When he answered, I barked out, "Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on with Duo?"

" . . . what on earth are you talking about Merquise?"

I tore out of the parking deck and onto the city streets. "Duo said he was going to go to the mall today at 3:30, but he hasn't returned yet. Winner said that I should call you and have you meet us at the mall. _What is going on?_"

"Damn . . . look, you're not going to like this at all. You have to remember that he was just looking out for your best interests—"

"_What the hell is going on!"_I bellowed.

The truth came from the man's mouth in a rush, so fast that I almost missed it. "Duo found a drug in Noin's baby bag that is usually given to children who have had genetic work so he suspected that the baby may not be yours and secretly had a paternity test done and today he went to go pick up the results."

My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that it felt like my bones would pop out of their joints. All I could manage to utter out was a low, deep and dangerous _"Excuse me?_" But the other man continued on as if I hadn't said a word.

"And we think that someone _else_ knows about this test and maybe he ran into some trouble at the mall. You're headed there now?"

"Yes! What the hell was he thinking? I—"

"You can bitch about him later once we know that he's safe," the former detective said tersely. "I'll meet you at the mall."

The rest of the drive to the mall was a blur. The idea that Duo would—I couldn't begin to _fathom_ what would make him do something as ridiculous as giving Mill a paternity test. Hadn't we talked about this? Hadn't I reassured him enough that I didn't want to have anything to do with Lu romantically?

There was a nasty feeling of rage and anger welling up in my stomach. I had never wanted to feel this way about Duo, not the man who I had taken a risk on and finally opened my heart to, not the man that I would die for, not the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But the betrayal and the pain that I felt from not being trusted was so overwhelmingly strong. I pushed back those ill thoughts—now wasn't the time.

I pulled into the mall parking lot and immediately spotted Alex, Quatre and the others hovering near the entrance. I quickly joined them, and before I could even ask any questions, Yuy began speaking.

"I've already checked the parking lot. His car isn't here."

Which was the first thing that I was going to ask.

"And," Alex said, "I've gotten mall security to cooperate with us. They have today's surveillance tapes and they've given us permission to search through them. There's also a BOLO on Duo's car—if any police officer comes across it, they know to call me."

I nodded sharply. Maybe the man was good for something other than hitting up on my lover after all. "Good."

"Trowa, Heero, Wufei and I can search the area in our cars," Quatre suggested.

After agreeing to the plans, Alex and I set out for the mall's security room, where we sat down with hours of tapes from various areas of the mall.

"Where were they supposed to meet?" I asked, eyeing the stack warily. The sooner we found out what happened to Duo, the sooner we could find him.

"The food court."

We started there, and after a few minutes of playback we spotted Duo, making his way through the crowds of people and to a table. Later he was joined by a man, confirmed by Alex to be the lab technician, and then he got up and left.

That established one thing. He'd gotten and seen the results of the test.

For a moment I sat there, staring blankly at the screen, wondering what was in that folder. I had never even considered the fact that Mill may not be mine. I'd been so eager to assume . . . I had no reason to doubt what Lucrezia said. Creeping up the back of my neck was the fear that Duo had been right all along, but I stored it in the back of my mind along with the terrible anger that I felt. Finding Duo was the first priority.

There were two exits in the mall—Alex took the tapes from one and I from the other, scanning the people who were leaving and entering, looking for Duo and any other familiar faces.

"There," Alex said, pausing his tape. "Apparently he did leave the mall . . ."

"Is there any footage of the parking lot?"

"Unfortunately, no."

My phone rang and quickly I snatched it up. It was Winner.

"Trowa and I found his car abandoned on the side of the road. I . . . there's blood."

That had been one of the _last _things that I wanted to hear. I had hoped that the results of the test hadn't gone the way that he'd wished and that he was just off sulking somewhere, but now there was a clear indication of foul play.

By the time the former detective and I reached the car, the cops were already there with their crime scene tools, and the first thing I wanted to know was whether or not that folder was somewhere in the car.

"It's not," Trowa said warily. "We already asked."

The look on Winner's face was dangerous and his body language indicated the level of his fury and fear. This must've been how he looked in battle, a far cry from his normally docile demeanor. It was almost impressive. Fists clenched at his side, he said firmly, "It had to be Noin who did this. _Her_ life would be over if those results ever got out—"

Despite it all I still hung on to some distant hope that Duo had been wrong. "We don't know what was in the folder," I responded calmly, enduring the heated gaze of the blond angry man.

"I can find out," was Alex's grim answer, and within minutes he had the lab technician on the phone.

I wanted to snatch that phone out of his hand and throw it into the traffic driving by. Some part of me felt deeply ashamed—my boyfriend was missing, his disappearance was most certainly suspicious and knowing the outcome of those results just may be crucial to finding him. But Mill . . . I wanted the boy to be _mine_.

Was there not enough room in my heart for both of them? This tug of emotions between my concern for Duo and my love for _my son _was difficult to bear.

And then Alex delivered the blow. "He's not your son."

The truth came like a swift kick in the ribs, a simple short statement as if it were nothing. Something inside of me died, leaving behind a hollow feeling.

Around me they continued to talk and plan out the next course of action. I wasn't listening. In a matter of hours my life had been turned upside down—my lover had vanished, the baby that I'd once considered to be mine wasn't, the woman that I'd once felt so much for had betrayed me . . .

As my world swirled out of control in front of my very eyes, I couldn't help but wonder—where did things go from here?


End file.
